By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — The person who owns the property where the historic cupola sits offered to possibly restore it — if the town deeds the historic structure to him. If the town has no interest in moving the cupola in a timely manner and another group does not step in to do it, the property owner would be open to having the cupola deeded to him and restoring it.

The discussion between the Naples town manager and the property owner led to another discussion between members of the Naples Board of Selectmen about what to do with the cupola. Can someone get the ball rolling again to fund the move of the cupola? Or, after Dec. 31, 2020, will the town be paying a storage fee to the person who bought the campground and inherited the cupola?

On Monday, Naples Town Manager John Hawley brought up the topic.

The owner of the land where the cupola currently sits stopped into the town hall recently to get a copy of the insurance policy to cover the cupola. But the property owner did ask again about plans to move it. Hawley told him that it was uncertain until after town meeting in April, if the selectmen and Naples Budget Committee decided to present the cupola move as a warrant article.

“The agreement is that for the rest of this year, we are allowed to keep it there. If we don’t move it by that point, we have to pay rent or storage,” Hawley said. “The rent [amount] hasn’t been disclosed so I don’t know,” he said, answering a selectmen’s question.

The property owner made an offer that caused opposing responses from the selectmen. “He did suggest if we decided we were not going to move it, we could just deed it over to him and he would take over the ownership and responsibility of the cupola. However, he said the plan would likely be that they would restore it. But, by deeding it over to him, it was not a guarantee it would be restored,” Hawley said. “So there is that chance it would be demolished.”

Selectmen Bob Caron II said this transfer of ownership was a favorable solution. “It has been on that property since 1968.”

Chairman Grattelo said Caron should make a motion, stating, “We don’t have to wait until Dec. 31.”

Caron continued. “If he has made the idea that he considering restoring it and it’s been on that property since 1968 or 1967…I would make the motion to deed it over.”

Selectman Kevin Rogers disagreed. “It should be downtown for more people to enjoy it.”

The comment was that it had been on the campground property for decades. “There is not enough public sentiment to have tax dollars pay for it,” Turpin said. He was referring to town meeting when funding the move was voted down by residents. “I would much rather hear the guy plans to make use of it, than get rid of it,” he said.

Rogers still favored funding it. He said that people are willing to give money and in-kind donations. He suggested having money allocated for the move only if people supported it or a certain amount of funds were raised. If it didn’t pass, the money would lapse into the general fund, Rogers said.

Chairman Grattelo said with the construction of the gazebo and the move of the Veterans’ Monument, there was no longer room at Kent’s Landing.

It could earn its keep as a tourist attraction, Turpin said. “It is a tourist attraction…It is just silly for us to pass it up. It, the structure, has a backup plan,” Rogers said.

There was no formal decision about how much money — if any — might be set aside in the budget as cupola moving funds.

“We are not going to make a decision tonight,” Grattelo said.