Town gets $304,000 grant to fix up depot
The Town of Bath has been awarded a Transportation Enhancement grant of $304,264 to continue rehabilitation of the train depot.
Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, in conjunction with the Federal Highway Administration and West Virginia Division of Highways announced the award November 2 as part of $4,802,314 federal Transportation Enhancement program funds awarded to 27 separate projects across the state.
“This is a great thing for the town. We had asked for $350,000, but this will do,” Mayor Susan Webster said from Charleston where she went to receive the award.
Work done so far
Since December 2008, when the Town of Bath’s Train Station Committee was formed, its members have been working to procure grants for the station’s rehabilitation.
In June 2009, the town received a $12,000 state development grant requiring a 50 percent match for a professional condition assessment of the building.
In June 2010, the town received a $32,000 grant from the State Historic Preservation Office requiring a 50 percent match for repair of the depot’s roof and a second $32,000 from the Governor’s Community Partnership Program to cover the matching funds.
A $10,000 private donation from local businessman Andrew Gosline and additional funding from the town was used to have the National Park Service replace rotting rafters, soffits and sheeting to stabilize the roof.
In July 2010, the town received a $35,000 Energy Efficiency and Conservation block grant to install a new heating and air conditioning system and new insulation at the depot. Work was completed this summer.
Committee Chairman Ryan Rebant worked with committee members Jim Bailey, John McCracken and Michael Gotwald to put the grant requests together.
Work to be done
McCracken said the new grant will be used to put the red tiles removed during roof repairs back on the roof.
The grant will also be used to redo the bathrooms in the depot for building compliance and accessibility and to remodel the interior.
“We are going to try to make it look like it did in 1915 when the train depot was built,” McCracken said.
Some money will be used to work on the lot behind the depot CSX has given the town, he said.
No Streetscape grant
Although the town received the grant requested for the train depot this year, it did not receive the $450,000 grant requested for the Streetscape project.
“My feeling is we are lucky when we get any money from Charleston and we will be happy to work with what we have,” Webster said.
