Board Backs Schiavi In 204 Tenant Dispute

HARWICH – Where is the line between art and commerce? 

In the end, it didn’t matter in the dispute between the town and a tenant of the 204 Cultural Arts Municipal Building. The select board this week upheld Town Administrator Tony Schiavi’s authority to evict the owners of Highpoint Vintage to make space for more municipal offices.

 “There was always the chance that the town may need to put municipal operations in the building at some time,” Schiavi told the select board Monday. The licenses held by the artists and craftspeople using space at the 204 stipulate that the town has the right to ask them to leave at any time for any reason after giving sufficient notice. The board agreed that Schiavi has the authority to do so, and set aside a secondary dispute about whether Highpoint Vintage is primarily a store rather than an artist’s studio.

 Highpoint Vintage is owned by Janna Powell, who has a three-year license with the town, and her partner Conor Howard-Rose. Before the pandemic, the two focused on producing tiles that preserve vintage papers like old guidebooks and restaurant menus, but since then their focus has included preserving antiques and other vintage items, Powell told the board. “Everything we do has always been preservation-based,” she said. But she denied that the operation is primarily a retail one, which would be prohibited in the 204.

 “We do not hold store hours. We are not a store,” she said.

 “They have the sign just to the right of the front door,” Schiavi countered. While the tenants say they primarily make tiles and coasters, an examination of the studio space indicates otherwise. “None of this is happening in Room 102,” he said. The room contains mostly textiles, he said.

 In an extended discussion, the select board heard an explanation about how Highpoint Vintage came to operate Room 102 in the former Harwich Middle School building, having swapped with another tenant using room A09. Powell argued that her eviction notice was moot because it referenced the wrong unit number, an argument town officials rejected.

 Schiavi said it is unfortunate that the dispute ended up before the select board, but said it is important to clear the air after “things that were put in print, things that were put on social media.” Despite Powell’s claims, her eviction is not the first in the history of the 204, he said. Two licenses were terminated by former Town Administrator Joseph Powers last year. In investigating Highpoint Vintage’s operation at the 204, Schiavi said he found other violations of the license agreement or conflicts with the facility’s use policy. 

 “It wasn’t fun going through all this,” he said.

 Schiavi said when he took the post, “it became pretty obvious right out of the gate that town hall is kind of busting at the seams.” Some staff were working in unsuitable spaces. “I have a responsibility to make sure that I am taking care of my people, taking care of our staff,” he said. The town is currently trying to fill positions that do not have any kind of office space, he added. 

 “Probably everybody can figure out, it’s the Albro House. It’s not a suitable place for municipal office space,” Schiavi said. A historic home across the driveway from town hall, Albro House has been home to the town’s youth and family services office. Before construction of the community center, it functioned as the town’s senior center.

 Select board member Mark Kelleher said the issue to him is clear: the select board sets policy and the administrator enforces it. “In my opinion, that’s why we have professional staff,” he said. 

 Board member Peter Piekarski said he sympathizes with the tenants, but agreed that the town administrator is explicitly delegated to handle the administration of licenses. “We clearly knew as a town that we were outgrowing this building,” he said, referring to town hall. It might have been wise for the town to reserve some of the rooms at the 204 for future office space, “and I would argue that’s something we should still do,” he said.

 No members of the board offered a motion to overturn Schiavi’s eviction notice. Schiavi offered to meet again with Powell to negotiate a deadline for Highpoint Vintage to move out.

 “There is a larger discussion to be had,” board Chair Donald Howell noted. The line between art studio and business is not always a clear one.

 “You could say any one of them is considered a business,” Cultural Affairs Director Kara Mewhinney said. Other artists occasionally sell their work, take jobs on commission or offer classes, and several of them go by business names.

 “The other stuff about the appropriate use and compliance with the provisions of the license agreement in the RFP was a second-order effect because of all the stuff that was put in writing, put in the newspaper, right? It forced the town to start looking at things,” Schiavi said. “Now at the end of the day, we may need to go through the whole building, and this could blow up the whole thing.” It is possible that other licensees are not meeting the requirements of using the space, he said. 

 “I think it goes to a bigger discussion about...how do we get everybody back to center in terms of how they’re, you know, utilizing the building and the spaces. And is there actual creation going on inside of the space?” Schiavi said.

 “What we’re going to discuss in the future is the difference between ‘curate’ and ‘create,'” Howell said.