SHENANDOAH - A handicap access ramp can be built with hammers, nails and wood, but the construction of the ramp project at J.W. Cooper Community Center on Friday included a monkey wrench thrown in that will delay its construction for the near future.
Since the summer, the building has been closed to the public for tours, businesses and events due to lack of handicap access at the two main entrances on South White Street following an order from an inspector working with the state Department of Labor & Industry.
The building owner, Kent Steinmetz, president of Steinmetz Jewelers, Hamburg, has been looking at ways to improve access, including the installation of a wheelchair lift at the south side entrance to make the building compliant with the Americans with Disability Act.
In the meantime, a ramp was being built to allow ADA access until a lift could be installed so the building could be used and revenue generated to continue the renovation work.
"We got off to a great start today. Souchuck Lumber had delivered all the lumber and we had volunteers and started to install the anchors of treated lumber," Steinmetz said.
Steinmetz said wood was being used because concrete would damage the stonework outside, which would not conform with guidelines from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission to maintain the building's historical aspects.
"Later in the morning, I received word from Carl Faust that we wouldn't have access to the building with just the ramp, and there were also other issues to be addressed for occupancy," Steinmetz said. "We were told to stop what we were doing but since what we had in would be a hazard if someone tripped over it, we ripped it out."
Faust is owner of Blue Mountain Inspection Services LLC, New Ringgold, and is a Uniform Construction Code inspector. Attempts to reach Faust by telephone were unsuccessful Friday.
Steinmetz said a building permit for the ramp was obtained through Shenandoah borough but Faust said it also needed to be approved by him.
One of Shenandoah's landmarks, the construction of the high school building began in 1917 and was completed in 1918, but the school didn't open until a year later. The worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918 overloaded local facilities and the school became a makeshift morgue to deal with the many flu victims. It opened as a high school in 1919. It was named years later in honor of Superintendent Jonathan Wilkinson Cooper.
The building was purchased in 2009 by Steinmetz, with plans to make it a multi-use center for shopping, culture and a community center. The downturn in the economy has slowed renovation work due to lack of funds, especially through the cutback in state funding avenues.
One group that has been a major supporter of Steinmetz is the Class of '76 Adopt A Room Project. The group is mostly made up of members of the Shenandoah Valley High School Class of 1976 and is renovating one of the former English classrooms on the third floor. The room had housed the food pantry, which is now held outside the building on Saturdays for people who need food assistance. Some group members were discussing the problems in moving forward with Steinmetz after the partially built ramp was removed.
Speaking to Steinmetz, Class of '76 member Dianne Dudish said, "You were following everything every step of the way. I read every one of those emails and there is nothing more you could have done unless somebody told you to do it, and someone in authority has not been telling you what to do."
The renovations need to be part of a balancing act between two state agencies, with Labor & Industry ordering the structural modifications for handicap access, while the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission requires the building to stay as close to its original structure in order to be considered as a building with historical significance.
Steinmetz, Class of 1976 members and others involved with the Cooper building project hope to schedule a meeting with Faust and borough officials to review the specific Labor & Industry guidelines in order to prevent situations similar to Friday's.
Class of '76 member Theresa Robel Price said the project will continue despite the many bumps in the road.
"This is just another delay, another hurdle," Price said. "We have a great project and it will continue."