News Track: Owner of abandoned Viola school remains persistent

BACKGROUND

VIOLA - The one-building school in the unincorporated Linn County community of Viola has sat empty since the last class exited in 1998.

The structure, built in 1922, passed through several private ownerships and fell into disrepair. The Linn County Public Health director considered declaring the building a safety hazard in 2010, though the structure has yet to be condemned.

In 2015, Heidi Liegl purchased the building and the 4 acres it sits on for $10,000. Liegl envisioned the building becoming a type of community center, but a hole-ridden and leaking roof, mounds of debris and splintering floors have impeded efforts to repair the former school.

In October 2016, Liegl partnered with Sarah Hyatt, a paranormal investigator with the International Paranormal Society, to offer nighttime tours of the building to adults. Ticket proceeds would go toward fixing the roof.

However, the Linn County Department of Planning and Development deemed the building unsuitable for a public event before the tours began.

WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE

Since October, Liegl said she has secured the building entrances, cleared broken branches and pruned plants from the surrounding acres. The groomed land shows Viola residents Liegl's intentions for progress, she said.

'For years, that land didn't get mowed,” she said. 'It had horses on it. There was a big storm and the town was allowed to bring all their branches there. We've cleaned all that up. That's something people see just by driving by.”

Liegl said she and her husband, who own a few bee hives, intend to plant fruit trees and wildflowers on the land for the bees in 2018.

The next order of business is to get to put a new roof on the building, but Liegl said she's having a difficult time securing a contractor for the project.

'Nothing we do in that school is going to make any difference until that roof is closed,” Liegl said. 'Once we get the roof done, we'll open that up and people can come and help us clean it out.”

Though Liegl said she has no current plans for another fundraiser, she has opened a Deposit a Gift page online for anyone interested to donate to meet the $150,000 goal.

Les Beck, director of planning and development for Linn County, said the county still is not pursuing condemnation for the building, but it would have concerns about future public events.

Liegl believes the abandoned school is worth saving.

'I love old historic places,” she said. 'They're a unique thing to try and restore. You have to have a nuance.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8516; makayla.tendall@thegazette.com.