Preservation Committee looks for input

PARADISE – Efforts to repurpose the historic school building in Paradise continue to progress and over the course of the next several weeks there will be opportunities for members of the Sanders County community to partake in the preservation of this historic structure.

Members of the community are encouraged to attend both of these events, the first of which is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 28.

The Paradise Elementary School Preservation Committee is inviting community members of all ages to attend a community input session, which is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Paradise School on the final Saturday of February.

The preservation committee is hoping the workshop, designed as a cherrette, will give residents throughout Sanders County an opportunity to share their ideas, discuss proposals and help in shaping the future of the historic school building.

A charrette, initially proposed by Philip Maechling, a member of the three-person consultant team assisting the preservation committee with the feasibility study, is a community design workshop, which brings members of the community together to discuss their plans for the future uses of the town’s school building.

Maechling stressed the main goal of the charrette was to give individuals from throughout the county a platform to voice their opinions. Adding, it is often helpful to get people involved who may have different opinions about the project.

Maechling added he was hoping to hear ideas about how to utilize the property around the school house, in addition to hearing plans for the building’s repurposing.

“We are hoping to hear ideas people may have for the site itself, not just the building. We are hoping to get a braod range of ideas from this event,” Maechling said.

Maechling was on hand for the monthly meeting, where the preservation committee came together to discuss the project’s progress last Thursday.

Joining Maechling, who served for more than a decade as Missoula’s Historic Preservation Officer, was Steve Adler, an architect who specializes in historic projects and Executive Director Bob Oaks, of the North Missoula Community Development Corporation.

The consultant team was hoping the charrette on Feb. 28 will illustrate what the community hopes to accomplish through repurposing the Paradise School.

“At the end of the day we hope to find out what people in the community view as important,” Maechling said.

Maechling added he hoped younger members of the community and students from local schools would be able to make the workshop, noting their ideas are very important as the project moves forward.

“Getting students here would be terrific,” Maechling said.

In addition to the charrette on Feb. 28, the preservation committee is also planning an open house at the Paradise School.

The open house is currently scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 21.

The open house will include a presentation on the results of the charette and will offer members of the community a chance to view the school and the grounds.

Also aiding the preservation committee in their efforts to repurpose the historic structure are two groups of students from Montana universities.

A student-faculty design team from Montana State University’s Community Design Center, is assisting the feasibility study, and the group supervised by Professor Thomas McNab visited the Paradise School in early February.

The student-faculty team hopes to have a 3-D model of the school structure, to assist in the study, completed in the near future.

In addition to the team from Montana State, a student-faculty team from the University of Montana’s School of Business Administration will also be assisting in the school’s repurposing investigation. The students will work as a team to address business management issues that come up during the study.

Professor Bambi Douma is supervising the University of Montana team.