On Monday, members of the Cranbrook Heritage Association, as well as Mayor Wayne Stetski and Councillor Sharon Cross, were out at the old brick building behind city hall. The group that has campaigned to save the brick building is now starting to fundraise for its restoration, and last week in council Nelson Engineering Inc. confirmed that from its initial review the building is restorable.
Ken Haberman, who along with Rob Amsing first brought the proposal to save the brick building to council back in June 2013, said the Monday meeting was to raise support for the building.
"Fundraising is underway and we're very much interested in having people contribute," Haberman said. "We just wanted to get people together just to bring it to the public again. We're working to get this place happening."
He said if people can contribute financially or volunteer their work it would really help the cause.
"Anybody that wants to donate time is always welcome," he said.
The brick building group is now under the umbrella of the Cranbrook Heritage Association, formerly the Baker Hill Heritage Society.
The purpose of this group is to keep Cranbrook's heritage and make sure it's not all torn down, he said.
Earlier this month Nelson Engineering Inc., which is based in Cranbrook, confirmed that a restoration of the building is feasible, though did not give an amount in dollars.
Initially, the city's engineering department had found the restoration cost prohibitive and so the building was to be demolished, with the bricks possibly being repurposed into another structure.
But in August 2013, after seeing the swell of support and passion from the group of volunteers looking to save the building, city council delayed the demolition a year by a narrow 4-3 vote.
If you are interested in finding out more information or contributing to the group's efforts, you can contact them through Facebook: "Save The Cranbrook City's Waterworks and Electrical Department Building."