The Clarkdale Town Council voted unanimously to demolish and reconstruct the town’s historic bandstand ramada rather than continue to restore it at their May 9 meeting.
The decision was based on issues of public safety and the difficulty of restoring the bandstand every few years as the wooden structure continued to deteriorate.
The Historic Preservation Committee previously held a hearing on the proposal for rebuilding in October 2021.
Community Development Director Ruth Mayday gave the council a presentation on the bandstand’s current condition and the details of previous rehabilitation efforts. After a 2004 restoration that cost about $30,000, the only remaining original elements were the posts, roof structure and floor structure. The stand had experienced considerable termite damage at the time.
Another restoration in 2011 fixed the stairs, rim joists and rotting post bases and patched the deck with street signs; the cost was around $10,000.
The structure is twisting itself into the ground in spite of the installation of a turnbuckle to halt the movement, as it has no brackets or spacers allowing for control of its settling, according to the presentation. The joists are dry and cracking, the floorboards have been reused, the stairs are sagging and the door frame is failing. The posts are decaying and out of alignment.
The estimated cost of rehabilitating the bandstand would be around $194,000, while reconstructing it from scratch would cost about $145,000. As the bandstand is a public facility, it needs to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, which would require the installation of an access ramp at the cost of an additional $59,000.
The bandstand is listed as a contributing structure on the National Register of Historic Places for the Clarkdale Historic District, and replacing it with a replica would result in its being removed from the register.
Mayday noted that the average expected lifetime for an outdoor wooden structure is only 15 to 20 years, so the fact that the bandstand is still usable if battered over a century later is worth remembering.
Ten residents spoke about their thoughts on replacing the bandstand, with a couple of them sharing memories of growing up with it and decorating it for the holidays.
Councilwoman Laura Jones said that she was mortified that they put people and bands with heavy equipment on the structure and that they must consider public safety as well as the stand’s historic role.
“Structures don’t make memories,” Vice Mayor Debbie Hunseder said. “People and experience make the memories.”
Councilwoman Lisa O’Neill did not think that saving the existing bandstand was feasible.
“I can’t imagine Clarkdale without the gazebo,” Councilwoman Marney Babbitt-Pierce said, adding that she wanted her children to be able to play on it, so it must be made safer. “What is left to restore?” Babbitt-Pierce drew a comparison with the Verde Copper Company and their emphasis on using new technology, and suggested that Clarkdale should carry on in that tradition regarding the bandstand. She argued that it should be rebuilt so it can last for 50 years, rather than having to be renovated every 20 years.
Mayor Robyn Prud’homme-Bauer recalled the last Town Council meeting they held about restoring the bandstand and how painful that meeting was and observed that she did not want to go through that again.
“It wants to be its iconic, tall self again for generations to come,” Prud’homme-Bauer said. “It’s time we quit patching up a structure we love so much. It’s time for the gazebo to have the things it needs to meet the joyous demands we place on it.”
The council voted unanimously to replace the bandstand with a replica and to incorporate existing pieces, if salvageable, into the new structure.
