South Middleton Township seeks grant for second opinion on structural integrity of former ATC building

The supervisors in late February authorized staff to seek a Keystone Historic Preservation Planning Grant through a program administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

The township would match the grant dollar for dollar and seek proposals from consulting engineers with expertise in working with historic structures, township solicitor Bryan Salzmann said last week during a supervisors meeting.

The goal is to obtain a second opinion from an expert on what if anything can be done to rehab and reuse the one-story wood frame building at 3 E. First St. in Boiling Springs, Supervisor Chairman Rick Reighard said. An initial review by a structural engineer turned up a long list of issues with the building, which dates from the 1930s, Reighard said.

The township bought the ATC building along with a gazebo, a parking lot and a 1.6-acre surrounding parcel for $144,000 in December 2021. In late January 2022, the supervisors approved an agreement to provide work space in the building to ATC staff.

That arrangement continued until last September when ATC staff moved into the second floor of the Craighead House at 318 E. Old York Road. The former office building sits vacant as the township continues to evaluate the condition of the property and to conduct an analysis on possible uses.

On Jan. 13, a representative from the Mechanicsburg firm of Kenneth B. Robinson & Associates Consulting Structural Engineers Inc. conducted a visual site survey of the building.

During the visit, the consultant observed several structural deficiencies that could prove too costly to correct to meet code requirements. “It would be more cost effective to rebuild the structure with a matching exterior appearance,” company President Kenneth Robinson said in a Jan. 25 letter to Kurt Uhler, township director of public works.

“This was a shock,” Reighard said during the meeting last week. “We’re all disappointed the building is in the condition that it’s in. In his [the engineer’s] opinion, we would have to replace every piece of wood in the structure.

“It started out as a pavilion,” Reighard said. “It didn’t have walls. Sometime later in its history, walls were inserted and, later on, an addition was added to the back.”

In his letter, Robinson said the floorboards are of a tongue and groove construction nailed on top of wood joists set directly on the dirt with no moisture barrier.

As a result, there are indications of deterioration or rot of the wood floor framing, Robinson said in his letter. So much so, the floor is not level and the corners of the floor and walls have dropped or dipped.

“Deterioration of the framing due to moisture is apparent at the base of the wall studs and in the floor joists,” the letter reads. “In one area of the main room, the flooring is discolored such that it is believed to indicate moisture damage.

“Based upon the conditions observed and grade elevations around the perimeter of the building, it is likely that all of the walls are experiencing deterioration at the base and will need substantial repairs or reconstruction,” Robinson said.

The wall finish and flooring in the bathroom have been removed leaving the frame exposed, he wrote. “It can be seen that the floor is constructed haphazardly, even utilizing old pallets to support the flooring,” the letter reads.

Some other deficiencies are:

• None of the doorways are wide enough to meet ADA compliance requirements for handicapped accessibility
• There are significant cracks in multiple areas in the concrete patio slabs

“Certainly, if we are faced with an unfortunate situation where we have to take the building down, we have the dimensions,” Reighard said. “We can seek to reconstruct it just how it looks, and something that would meet the code.”