UHBBI Annouces Raffle fundraiser
See the Raffle page on this website for more details. Funds raised will support preserving the history of the Union Hall Block Building in downtown White Pigeon, Michigan.
Stablization moves forward
The stabilization of the Union Hall Block Building was completed on time, January 31, 2023. Making the building stable and secure was a necessary step before repair and restoration work could begin. You can watch our journey below.
On November 1, 2022, the newly formed White Pigeon Construction Board of Appeals held a hearing to consider the future of the Union Hall Block Building. The Village of White Pigeon, after a series of court hearings which began when the former building owners disputed their decision to condemn the building, was ordered by the court to go back and start their process over again.
The court noted that the village had not followed all of the appropriate steps before condemning the building and directed them to do so. As a result, the village sent a 100+ page document to the Board of Union Hall Block Building, Inc. basically reiterating their rationale for condemning the building and offering the opportunity for a hearing at a newly created Construction Board of Appeals at a cost of $500.
UHBBI met the deadline for filing their appeal and a hearing was set for November 1st. As a result of the hearing, which was well-attended by local residents, the Board created an order allowing UHBBI to move forward with stabilizing the structure and set out guidelines requiring this first step to be carried out within 90 days. January 31, 2023 was the deadline for completion of this phase. We are happy to report that Building Restoration, Inc. of Kalamazoo helped us to meet this deadline, despite an overwhelming work schedule and frigid weather.
Having met the deadline for the first 90 days, UHBBI has now moved into the requirements of the second 90 days, for which the deadline is April 30th, 2023. UHBBI has already made good progress on this set of requirements and is currently speaking to qualified people to make sure we have what is needed done properly for the deadline.