Fort Coombs Armory renovations nearly complete

            Renovation work at the Fort Coombs Armory in Apalachicola is nearly complete and now the county is trying to decide how much to charge groups that want to use the building.

The 850 thousand dollars renovation project is expected to be complete on February 22^nd.

The work included installing a central heating, ventilation and air conditioning in the historic building.

There is also a new warming kitchen and handicapped accessible restrooms and the windows on the 4th street wall have been repaired. 

Once the work is complete, the county plans to rent out the armory as a convention center and a destination for private events like weddings.

The question now is how much to charge.

Currently the county charges 400 dollars for a weekend’s use, but that price was set before the air conditioning system was installed.

Commissioners say they don’t want to charge so much that groups can’t afford the armory, but at the same time they don’t want taxpayers to subsidize private events.

The other issue is that some groups have already reserved the armory and have requested a fee waiver.

Commissioners said in the issue of fairness they are likely not going to waive fees for any groups.

At this point the county has tabled the issue for 2 weeks so county staff can collect information about daily energy use at the armory so the fees they set will better reflect the actual costs. 

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