Altavista armory's fate unclear

Campbell County officials are discussing whether to stop maintaining the Altavista armory for community use.

The armory is state-owned, needs about $500,000 in repairs and costs the county about $40,000 per year to operate, county administrator David Laurrell said.

The move, which is part of budget discussions, could force several community groups meeting at the armory to find new homes, Laurrell said.

“Regardless of what happens with that building, we’re going to continue to work with the services that use that building to see if we can find them a new place.”

Last week, the county sent a memo explaining the possibility that the armory won’t be available indefinitely and asking the groups to start looking for new options on where to house programs, Laurrell said.

“There has not been a decision made to close it down and there’s not been a decision made not to do the improvements. (It’s) just something that was under consideration during part of the budget process.”

The county offered to purchase the building from the state several times. After its last offer was rebuffed about three years ago, supervisors gave permission to “go ahead and operate until the maintenance issues overcame the value of operating it,” Laurrell said. “It’s time to make that determination.”

Several parts of the building have been problematic for years, including the roof, which was repaired recently, Laurrell said. However, the heating system and boilers now need replacing and the county needs to decide whether investing money into a building it doesn’t own is worth it.

Recreation department co-director Mary Pascale said the county would work with the displaced groups to find new facilities to use and that sort of relocation isn’t rare.

“I hate to see us lose the armory,” Pascale said, “But I also see the value in the fact that putting large sums of money into a facility not owned by the county might not be in the best interest.”

Among the groups currently using the building are an activities group for seniors. The Central Virginia Area Agency on Aging uses the building as a nutrition center for Altavista senior citizens to pick up meals, Pascale said.

Two Altavista residents spoke at Monday’s budget hearing against the proposal, saying that closing the armory would seriously impact senior citizens who rely on the health programs and activities held at the building on Avondale Drive.

Martha Brown, who works for CVAAA, told supervisors that the agency has used the building for many years as a center for Altavista seniors to seek basic health monitoring and pick up meals.
“I urge you to do whatever is necessary to keep the building open,” she said.