PHOENIX

Arizona lawmakers: State Fair hid plans to demolish historic building

Dustin Gardiner
The Republic | azcentral.com
  • The State Fair seeks to demolish a 1938 New Deal-program building
  • Lawmakers say demolition plans weren%27t properly disclosed
  • Rep. Kavanagh says the %22spirit of the law was trashed%22

Arizona lawmakers say State Fair officials misled them and "trashed" the spirit of the law when they didn't disclose plans to demolish a historic 1938 building on the fairgrounds — plans that have been halted pending a court order.

This historic building at the Arizona State Fair Grounds is scheduled to be razed July 16, 2014, in Phoenix. The art deco building dates back to 1938 and was constructed by the federal government as part of a New Deal-era program to lower unemployment during the Great Depression.

Bulldozers were prepared to raze the structure last week, until historic-preservation advocates intervened with a last-minute lawsuit. The State Fair wants to remove the dilapidated New Deal-era building to make room for more vendor space to rent out.

Now, several state legislators who oversee spending on buildings are accusing State Fair officials of hiding plans to demolish a rare building that's eligible for the Arizona Register of Historic Places. State Fair officials, however, say they followed the process required of them.

Known as the State Fair Civic Building, the Art Deco structure near McDowell Road and 19th Avenue in Phoenix dates to 1938 and was constructed as part of a federal public-works program designed to put people to work during the Great Depression. It's been used as offices, a haunted house and for a mineral and gem exhibit.

State Rep. John ­Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, has demanded a meeting with fair officials this week.

Kavanagh and other lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Capital Review are especially angry that officials for the fair, a self-sustaining state agency, didn't disclose their intentions when they presented an annual building-improvement plan on June 19. The fair officials asked to spend money to pave the area with asphalt, but they didn't mention they planned to tear down a historic structure on the same site, he said.

"They didn't break the law, but ... the spirit of the law was trashed," said Kavanagh, who chairs the capital committee and the powerful House Appropriations Committee. "I communicated to them that they better not demolish the building before we meet or we'll build a replica with their appropriations for the next few years."

State law requires the State Fair to seek approval for capital improvement projects that exceed $250,000. Thus, Kavanagh said, they weren't technically required to disclose the demolition, expected to cost about $68,000.

But Kristi Walsh, assistant executive director of the State Fair, said agency officials have been transparent and followed the process directed to them by the Legislature's budget analysts. She said they were told the fair doesn't need to seek the committee's approval for demolition.

"We thought we were following the proper procedure," Walsh said. "We did what we were told. I don't know what else we could have done better."

The State Fair's plans for the building weren't mentioned when they sought approval for asphalt paving because the project would cover a much larger area than the site of the building, she said.

Rep. Lela Alston, D-Phoenix, brought the issue to the attention of the capital review committee in a letter, saying the Arizona Exposition and State Fair Board had "misled" legislators and moved to demolish the building with "little stakeholder involvement or even community notification." She asked for a chance to discuss alternative uses for the building.

However, Alston said it appears the State Fair board is digging in and resisting an offer from Phoenix leaders and preservationists to help restore it.

Walsh said the State Fair is committed to preserving other historic structures on its property but has determined it's not economical to save the Civic Building, which has fallen into disrepair, with a badly leaking roof, termite damage and a cracking foundation.

The fair estimates it would cost up to $1 million to make the building usable to the public again, though Alston and preservation advocates dispute that figure.

"I think we're open to hearing all ideas," Walsh said. "The bottom line for us is we don't have the funding to put into the building."

Preservation advocates, who learned of the State Fair's plans a little more than a week ago, have been fighting the demolition on several fronts. A lawsuit filed last week led a Maricopa County judge to grant a temporary restraining order, halting the demolition until a hearing on Wednesday.

Jennifer Boucek, an attorney and director of the non-profit Preserve Phoenix, filed the lawsuit stating the State Fair board exceeded its authority by attempting to destroy state property without complying with Arizona's Open Meeting Law or the State Historic Preservation Act. She contends the fair didn't properly maintain or document a significant historic building under its control, as the law requires.

The city of Phoenix is now seeking to intervene in the lawsuit on the side of preservationists.

Phoenix's Historic Preservation Commission also has stepped in, voting to begin the process to create a protective zoning overlay for all the fairgrounds, a move that could further delay demolition. However, State Fair officials contend the city doesn't have jurisdiction over the property.

The Civic Building is one of several fairground structures built by the Works Progress Administration, a federal agency that led New Deal-era projects during the 1930s and '40s. It served as the WPA's headquarters in Arizona, a nucleus for the agency that provided work for numerous unemployed construction workers and craftsmen.

Ultimately, Alston said she's holding out hope the State Fair board will be willing to come to the table and help save a building that's a rare gem in a city that has preserved so few of its historic structures.

"I'm sad that it came to this," she said, noting that the fair has struggled as the state swept its reserve funds in recent years. "But the expedient solution is not the best solution, in my opinion."