“While our efforts are still on-going, the light is quickly dimming. Council should have thrown the Cooper House back to the Parks Board last year for their recommendations but instead led the committee along knowing that the committee could not accomplish its goals without an okay from the city to pursue the grants and alternative funds that were available to repurpose the home as well as sustain it,” according to the post.
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The city of Fairfield Parks and Recreation Board unanimously recommended the city tear down a historic home a group of residents were trying to save — and city council will consider a vote to demolish the home tonight, April 23.
The Save the Cooper House committee had requested the city not raze the 19th-century home and convert it to an educational facility. The city purchased the 3.3-acre property in 2016 with an Ohio Public Works Commission grant. On tonight's agenda is an $18,000 demolition appropriation for a property at 6460 River Road, which is the address for the Cooper House.
RELATED: Residents are trying to save this 1820s home, but its future is uncertain
The purchase included the 1824-built Cooper House and a barn, which has since been razed, with the intent provide leverage of the Marsh Park expansion project.
Dean Bruewer, who has led the Save the Cooper House committee, wants the house saved because it was owned by Thomas Cooper, one of the first inhabitants of what is now the city of Fairfield.
“This is critical to the areas to preserve the cultural heritage of Fairfield,” he told this news outlet in December. “This actually was more than likely the first inception of the first settlement within (what is now known as) Fairfield.”
Fairfield Mayor Steve Miller has repeatedly said the city doesn’t need to subsidize another historic building.
The city already subsidizes the Elisha Morgan Mansion, a historic home on Ross Road, at a cost of about $40,000 a year.
Miller said for him to support saving the Cooper House the committee needed to develop a plan that included a funding option.
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