Artists must vacate former Bluff Park Elementary School

The artists at the Artists on the Bluff facility in Bluff Park will indeed have to move out following a vote by the Hoover City Council Monday night.

Councilman Curt Posey asked for the council to reconsider subleasing the building to the artist group after a similar vote failed last week, but after about an hour of discussion, Posey was the only one in favor of the move.

The building, also known as the former Bluff Park Elementary School, actually is owned by the school board, but the council voted 4-3 last week to authorize the mayor to lease it from the school board.

The idea was to, in turn, sublease the building to the artist group which has been operating there since 2011 and have the artist group begin to pay utility costs.

Hoover schools Superintendent Kathy Murphy has said the school board can no longer afford to pay utility costs for the building, especially when the Artists on the Bluff group is charging artists rent to be there.

The bigger problem is that the building needs repairs and renovations that city officials estimate would cost $1 million to $4 million to bring it up to code.

Murphy said tonight the school system could not allow people to stay in that building if it is not brought up to code. While she respects the history of the building and supports the arts, “we are not going to invest our money in a building where we do not have children,” Murphy said.

There are more pressing capital needs to educate Hoover children, she said.

If the city of Hoover wanted to pay for repairs to bring the building up to code, the school board was willing to lease the building, she said.

But the City Council, facing a tight budget of its own, was not willing to invest millions of dollars in the old school either.

Councilman Mike Shaw said all the council members support the arts, but “I don’t think this is the best way to do it.”

Councilman John Lyda has said he doesn’t think the city needs to be in the landlord business or leasing a building that is about 100 years old and in need of repair, especially when no one knows how much the repairs will really cost and who would pay for them.

Councilman Casey Middlebrooks said perhaps the city can provide some money to help the artist group relocate somewhere else.

Murphy said she already has moved all school children out of the building, but school officials aren’t going to kick the artists out immediately. They will be thoughtful about a timetable that will give the artists some time to find somewhere else to go, she said. She would expect that to be longer than 30 days, she said.

Heather Skaggs, a board member for the Artists on the Bluff, said the artists would like to be able to stay there through the end of this year because they have classes already lined up that far in advance and nowhere else to go. Some of them are dependent on that revenue for their livelihood, she said.

Skaggs said she was saddened that the facility will not be able to continue as it has been but she holds no grudges. She understands that the City Council members do support the arts, she said.

Murphy said school officials will give some thought to whether the artists could relocate to another school system facility, but she’s not making any promises. They’re just willing to examine that possibility, she said.

Skaggs said it’s possible the Artists on the Bluff group will cease to exist, but the artists also want to explore other options. One idea she is willing to study is relocating to some empty buildings in Shades Mountain Plaza, but that would require some additional investors, she said.

A remaining question is what will happen with the historic school building. Murphy said the school board will have to have some serious discussions about that.

The school board can’t afford to make the needed repairs, and it doesn’t make sense to let the building sit there empty and decay, she said.

School board President Earl Cooper said the 100-year-old building is not going to be restored. The school board may keep the front portion of the building for posterity’s sake, but some other parts of it may have to be torn down. He and school board members will await a recommendation from the superintendent, he said.

Robin Schultz, a Bluff Park resident who operates another nonprofit in the building that repairs old computers and gives them to children from low-income families, tried to convince the council the building is worth saving.

“It’s an important part of Bluff Park. It’s an investment into the community,” Schultz said. “We spend a lot of money on certain parts of the community, much more than this right here. … It may cost us something, but we need to do the right thing.”

Pete Mosley, another Hoover resident, said sometimes a building is not worth it, even if it has historical value.