St. Rita's has until late December to either move or it be demolished. Stanko, a member of St. Rita's congregation, has conferred with his arts group, and their consensus was to not let the building go to waste. Now he's asking the county for financial help to move the building. Stanko said the arts group wants to name the building after the late Katherine Taylor, an art advocate and member of the Cultural Arts Association, who died recently. Stanko said Taylor had asked him to help her establish a center for cultural arts where all the art groups in South Walton could meet.
People get tired of the beach and like other activities.
People like culture. Jim Taylor, Katherine's husband, has donated land on County Road 393 north of the new Episcopal Church as a site for the building. Stanko said to build a similar structure from scratch, including the cost of the land, would cost twice as much. A lot of the money he was asking for would be used in the relocation, which got more expensive when it was determined the building would have to be cut in half to be moved. Commission Chair Joel Paul said if the Board of County Commissioners decides to fund the endeavor, the county would have to first hold a public hearing to collect public comment on the expenditure.