Despite a unanimous vote at the last city council meeting, Councilor Valerie Blake (Ward 3) said she can't predict the outcome of an upcoming public hearing regarding a bond to restore the Franklin Opera House, but expects a lengthy discussion.

The council will vote on a resolution, proposed by Blake, for a bond up to $7.8 million to renovate city hall and the opera house, following a public hearing at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 3, in the Franklin High School cafeteria. 

“As far as the public hearing, it's going to be long. And I think we'll hear from those people that are going to come out and support, and those people who would rather do the lesser project are also going to come out, too,” Blake said. “It's a public process, and I welcome it. I think we should hear from everybody. That's the only way to make smart decisions.”

The agenda and meeting materials are available at franklinnh.org/city-council-mayor/pages/city-council-meeting-information.

The materials detail four options, presented by architects from ARCove, for funding the project. Information provided by the opera house has been refined since first presented to the city council in July.

Option 1A renovates the building in phases, increases capacity for city meetings and opera house events, brings more city offices from offsite buildings into one building, and fixes fire, electrical, and life safety codes. The price is $7.8 million, and cost-sharing with the opera house is possible, and the opera house would be responsible for $3.67 million. The effect on property taxes would be $21.47 annually per $100,000 value.

Option 1B is the same as 1A, except it renovates the entire building all at once, and costs $7.3 million. The effect on property taxes would be $18.90 annually per $100,000 value.

Option 2 only renovates the city administration areas of the building, mainly on the basement level. Building use and capacity will be reduced, balcony will be limited and the option does not fix all electrical, fire and life safety issues. The total for that option is $3.89 million, and cost-sharing with the opera house is not possible. The effect on property taxes would be $20.04 annually per $100,000 value.

Option 3 addresses some, but not all, electrical, fire, and life safety issues. Building use and capacity will be reduced, and basement and balcony use will be limited. This comes at a cost of $1.25 million and would not result in a full occupancy permit. Cost-sharing with the opera house is not possible. The effect on property taxes would be $6.43 annually per $100,000 value.

All options were reviewed by City Manager Judie Milner and Fire Chief Mike Foss for accuracy, according to meeting documents, and the effect on property taxes is based on a 30-year bond.

Dan Darling, executive director of the opera house, offered clarity on the added tax burden.

“The building is owned by the city. The opera house is within that building, and so the renovation involves a lot of fire and safety issues that affect city offices, as well as the use of the opera house,” Darling said. “There's going to be some cost to the taxpayers, because it's the city's building.”

To pay for their share of the renovations, Darling said the opera house must fundraise through grants. He says he is not able to apply to any grants unless the city shows interest in renovating the opera house, as they require matching funds from the city.

All grants the opera house intends to use for funding are at this point hypothetical. The longer the city waits to pass the resolution about the bond, fewer grants are available, and the time to apply diminishes. A Congressionally Directed Spending Grant of $1.3 million requested by U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen did not make it past the House Committee on Appropriations. The opera house then pivoted to a $1 million grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission, but still cannot act if nothing gets pushed through.

“None of those are guaranteed, because we haven't applied. The problem is we can't even apply unless the city says that they want the opera house included in this renovation,” Darling said.

Options 1A and 1B allow cost-sharing with the opera house, as renovations are split evenly between the city hall and opera house sections. Darling also noted money cannot be spent, and the construction will not start, until the opera house raises enough money to meet their contribution. Darling said this agreement prevents the opera house from leaving the city hanging if funding isn’t immediately secured.

Mayor Desiree McLaughlin, despite wanting funding for the opera house restoration, has been one of the loudest critics of the public hearing. She said the proposed renovations show major changes to the building, according to a Conditions Assessment and Feasibility Study available at franklinnh.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif601/f/uploads/1029_franklin_ch-oh_feasibility_report_rev_03-22-2024_0.pdf.

The most significant changes include moving city offices to the basement and converting the entire first floor for the opera house. An addition would increase accessibility to the new city offices. The historic Grand Army of The Republic Hall would be turned into the new city council meeting space.

“This is a complete overhaul, like, that's not what's there now,” she said. “I think it destroys the historic value of the building.”

Blake disagrees that the renovations don’t respect the building’s historic nature. She said she trusts ARCove Architects and their plans for the building.

“They are experts in historical renovation buildings,” Blake said. “We didn't undertake this lightly. That's a beautiful historic building important to the citizens of Franklin, and we want to keep that look, that feel, and bring it back to life.”

Darling said if the bond resolution is passed and construction starts, the opera house can work with the architects to adjust the proposed renovations.

"The architects have given us a design concept. They're not written in stone. The next step in this process is for the city to authorize to spend money to get those construction plans done," he said. "And that's when we can look at it and say, 'Well, you know, the architects were recommending that they completely redo the [Grand Army of The Republic] Hall. Maybe that's not necessary.'"

McLaughlin said the city council has not had enough time to discuss with each other and their constituents what should be done. While the council received a presentation from the architects in April, the first discussion wasn’t until the July 22 meeting, when Blake made the motion for the bond based on one of the four options. She said Milner worked with the architects to refine the options without the input of the council.

Multiple attempts to reach Milner for comment were not returned.

McLaughlin referenced the July city council meeting, where no significant objections were made to the options presented.

“Everyone's getting sick of me saying this, but this public hearing is too soon. I had a meeting, where I said, ‘What do you guys think about it?' Nobody at that point said to me, 'I looked at all these options, and they're crap.' But they're all saying it now, because now they have to vote on it and spend the taxpayers’ money,” she said.

She also criticized the opera house for expecting $500,000 of taxpayers money through Tax Increment Financing funds to offset their cost.

Darling said this is ultimately for the good of the taxpayers. Everyone would benefit from the reopening of the opera house, even people who don’t attend performances.

“I think that if you look at other communities, like Rochester and Lebanon and Claremont, and well, Laconia, what they are seeing is the economic and social value of these performance spaces,” Darling said. “It's of the benefit to the city, even if people don't actually come to the opera house, they are benefiting by the people who are coming and spending money in the restaurants and making those successful so that they are paying taxes.”

Blake believes enough time has passed since the opera house was forced to close in 2022 that now is the time to authorize the bond.

“It's unfortunate that we're in this situation,” Blake said. “If prior administrations had taken better care of it, and instead of just saying, ‘Oh, next year we'll fix it, next year we'll fix it,’ we probably wouldn't be looking at quite as large a bond to take care of the building. Basically, it's deferred maintenance.”

Councilor Leigh Webb (Ward 3) is a former board member of the Franklin Opera House. As a city councilor, he said he needs to consider all expenses required for its operation, and he will not make his decision about the resolution until after the hearing.

"All of that has to be given careful consideration as to the impact on the people who live here in Franklin and pay taxes here in Franklin," Webb said. "I hope we can come to a reasonable solution that will address the needs of the city and particularly of that building, so that we can get It reopened in as quickly a fashion as possible."