By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — The cupola is immobile. Funds haven't been raised to move it from the private property near Route 114 to a more visible venue. But, the cupola is heading somewhere — to Naples Town Meeting in late April.

The cupola issue will be resolved by putting the decision back into the hands of residents at town meeting this year, according to Naples Chairman Jim Grattelo.

This is not to be confused with Special Town Meeting, which is happening next Thursday, Feb. 20. The cupola will not be an item at that meeting. Instead, the goal is to have warrant articles regarding the fate of the cupola written up in time for Annual Town Meeting, which takes place in April.

“Moving forward, the only way to resolve this issue once and for all is to put together some town warrants [for] April Town Meeting; and, once and for all, put this to rest,” Chairman Grattelo said.

Essentially, there would be one warrant article for the townspeople to officially accept the cupola as a gift that was given to the town. Another warrant article would ask residents to decide if taxpayers’ money will go toward moving the cupola onto public land. Another question will be: If taxpayers’ money is to be used, how much?

The cupola conversation took up almost an hour of time during the Naples Board of Selectmen meeting, which lasted a total of 90 minutes on Monday night. In that hour the discussion took many paths. Could the Tax-Increment Financing Fund (TIFF) be used since the cupola might stimulate commerce? Should the cupola be put on the Naples Town Beach, which is already crowded with the construction of a gazebo and the relocation of the Naples Veterans’ Monument? There was talk that if the cupola was moved to the town beach, would nonresidents be allowed to use it? Or would the cupola, like the beach, be exclusively for Naples residents?

What might be the most appropriate town-owned land for the cupola was something that the selectmen and the audience considered. Bob Caron II said if the residents decided to build a new community center where the town hall is standing, the cupola — if kept in town ownership — could be incorporated into those plans. 

Naples landowner Jon Marsh disagreed with putting it on the Village Green. Marsh had driven from Connecticut to participate in the cupola conversation. He said the cupola should be close to the water, making it a more desirable venue for weddings. Marsh stated that allowing weddings to take place at the cupola would be an economic stimulus to the town.

In addition to taking up the majority of the selectmen’s meeting on Monday night, the cupola has consumed staff time in recent weeks, too. “The town staff has spent an inordinate amount of time in the past 10 days researching this,” Grattelo said.

Naples Town Manager John Hawley confirmed this. “Between myself, the administrative assistant and town clerk, we probably have ten hours of research time invested. We needed to look back in town meeting minutes, review select board videos and check with people who might have been knowledgeable about the topic,” he wrote in an e-mail. “There has been a recent insurgence of social media support for saving the cupola since the property-owner where the cupola is stored asked the town to move it or start paying storage fees for keeping it on his property.”

The cupola is a structure similar to a belfry. This particular cupola was one of two, which once sat on the roof of the Bay of Naples Inn. Since the late 1960s, it has been sitting in the playground of the Bay of Naples Campground. The family that owned the campground property sold it to a private citizen, who recently suggested that the town deed the cupola to him if there were no plans to move it. This was just a suggestion.

The property-owner has definitely requested that the town pay a storage fee as of Dec. 31, 2020 — if the cupola is still sitting there.

In going back over notes and video, the town staff discovered that there is no documentation of a formal acceptance of the cupola as town property. “The town meetings of 2008, 2009, and 2010 all had warrant articles authorizing the municipal officers to accept property as gifts. We are unable to find documentation of a formal vote of acceptance of the cupola by the municipal officers in a public meeting,” Hawley said. 

Therefore, a Warrant Article asking residents if they want to accept ownership of the cupola should resolve that concern.

Selectman Jim Turpin commented that the cost might skyrocket well beyond the $40,000 that has been estimated. He said items like placing a concrete foundation, repairing the roof, replacing windows and installing air conditioning could increase the cost and it could end up being as much as $100,000.

“This was a a well intended gift that came with a price tag,” Turpin said.

At one point, Marsh said there were lots of people supporting the preservation of the cupola. Caron said, “I have [heard] just as many people who say they want it as say they don’t want it.”