By Kellen Olshefski
Staff Writer
At its Aug. 5 meeting, the Village of East Troy Board approved the concept of using Village Hall as a safe haven for residents who might not have air conditioning when summer temperatures become extreme.
Village Trustee Fortune Renucci suggested the idea after a resident of the town called him about the topic.
“It made me think, most communities tell people to go to the library, it’s air conditioned,” he said.
“But, I don’t know, is the library able to handle that if we were to have a hot enough, long enough spell.”
Renucci said he thought about some of the Village Hall’s unused space and this would at least give residents an option.
Trustee Dustan Stanford said he suggested maybe providing a cribbage board and a couple of decks of cards so elders in the community could play cards.
Village President Randy Timms suggested the use of both the Community and Conference rooms to provide a safe haven for village residents in need during stifling heat and humidity.
Renucci said before completely finalizing the plan for how village hall would be used for this purpose, it would be important to establish some ground rules, noting it would not be a daycare situation where parents could just come and drop off their kids.
The Village of East Troy Police Chief Alan Boyes suggested setting a specific temperature the ‘cooling center’ would be opened up at. Renucci agreed, suggesting possibly a heat index.
The board approved the concept with the stipulation a set policy regarding items such as a heat index and no unaccompanied minors be completed.
Out of the ashes
In other business, the village board revisited the raze order for buildings at 2887/2883 Main Street and 2113 Church Street destroyed in the April 26 fire on the historic Village Square.
The board has revisited the item in the past several meetings, just to make sure progress is being made in rebuilding on the property or removing the foundation before winter sets in.
Greg Aprahamian, owner of the building that housed Pedder Resale shop and Synergy Homecare, was at the meeting to share design plans and conceptual drawings for his intentions.
According to Aprahamian, there are two versions he is currently looking at: one would have six apartments on the second floor with a third-floor loft bedroom, and the other version would be only a two story with four apartments.
Currently, Aprahamian’s plan is to get a building up on the property before winter and plans to have an engineering report by September board meetings.
Aprahamian said when beginning to think about designing a new building, he went to the historical society and obtained a photo of the building that stood on the property in the early 1900s and based his design off of that.
Knowing Aprahamian’s intentions for the site, Timms suggested getting on the agenda for next week’s Plan Commission meeting so Aprahamian can present in concept what he’s looking to do with the site so the commission can discuss the plan, talk about colors and ask questions.
At that time, they could also confirm it doesn’t violate any ordinance or zoning code laws in the village.
According Timms, with conceptual approval, Aprahamian would have a “fairly green light” to continue pursuing the project, buying him a window of opportunity to get architectural specs so he can keep moving forward.
Aprahamian was planning on meeting with Village Building Inspector Scott Johnson on Tuesday to go over plans and paperwork to work towards getting a building permit.
The Plan Commission meets Aug. 12 with the Village Board’s next meeting to follow on Aug. 19.
