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Barely more than a month removed from securing a 2009 Governor’s Hometown Award for Carbondale, the more than 100 community volunteers who revived the Varsity Center for the Arts on Illinois Avenue were rewarded again Tuesday when the City Council unanimously voted to deem the center a local landmark.
Jack Langowski, executive director of the Varsity Center for the Arts, said the landmark status would make the center eligible for, and more appealing to, federal grants.
“There has been a multitude of different vendors and retail businesses in our area (and) without their assistance, we could not have accomplished all that we have,” Langowski said. “I’d like to be able to say thanks and move on, but we’re going to have knock on everybody’s door again, because much work has to be done to complete the project.”
Langowski said the next step in development of the center is to give Carbondale Community Arts a permanent home.
The center should be complete around 2013 or 2014, Langowski said.
Councilman Joel Fritzler said the renovation of the center has a unifying effect on the community in addition to providing the Stage Company with a central location for its performances, which it hasn’t had in years past.
“It helps them to focus on their performances and practices as opposed to figuring out where their props are,” Fritzler said.
Formerly known as the Varsity Theatre, the Kerasotes family donated the property to the city in 2007, and in 2008 Mayor Brad Cole passed it on to the Jackson County Stage Company. The Stage Company partnered with Carbondale Community Arts in the restoration process under the leadership of Langowski.
The center’s one-year anniversary passed one week ago on Oct. 24.
The council also voted to approve a text amendment to an ordinance amortizing certain non-conforming mobile homes.
Under the amended ordinance, all 20 legally non-conforming mobile homes described in a staff report last month must be removed within five years.
Cole, as well as Councilman Chris Wissmann, stressed the amendment as a safety issue.
“There’s no telling what kind of safety standards these (mobile homes) were built to,” Wissmann said during council discussion.
Cole said if the council didn’t take action to protect residents living in and around such mobile homes, a disaster such as a fire or gas leak could end in tragedy.
“We must protect the community, and these structures … are not intended to be where they are within our current zoning ordinance which has been in place for 35 years, and … we have an obligation to address the issue,” Cole said.
Nick Johnson can be reached at nickj39@siu.edu or 536-3311 ext 263
