Habitat holds ribbon-cutting ceremony for home in Dryden

A handful of years ago, a property on 1932 Slaterville Rd. in the town of Dryden included an old farmhouse that was becoming more and more dilapidated by the day.

In 2018, Habitat for Humanity of Tompkins and Cortland Counties looked into buying the property and rehabbing it from scratch.

Once Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Shannon MacCarrick and former construction manager Chuck Newman took a look at the house, they wondered if it’d be worth giving the house a facelift. According to MacCarrick, the house was “yellow and bogged down.”

Thankfully, MacCarrick said, they went for it. The property, which is 3 acres of land, was purchased in December 2018 and subdivided into three lots.

“It’s a beautiful old house. The structure is cool,” said Newman, who noted that despite some skepticism at first, Habitat for Humanity stuck with rehabbing the home.

On July 28, the house was officially dedicated to the LaValley family in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The house, which took more than three years to renovate, is a four-bedroom home for a family of six.

The LaValley family includes Seth and Taylor (husband and wife) and their four sons — Leo, Jonnie, Charlie and David Michael.

“A friend originally suggested [we look] into the Habitat program, and at the time, we had three [now four] growing boys and were quickly outgrowing the place we were renting,” Taylor said. “It was important for us to stay in the Ithaca school district for our oldest to continue to get the services he was receiving. However, any house we looked at that would fit us [either rental or for sale] were all priced out of our budget. We most look forward to being able to give our kids a home — not just a place we are renting for a few years, but a house that can be filled with memories and pictures on the wall.”

According to a release from Habitat for Humanity, the house was unoccupied for “many years” (tinyurl.com/2yp5yxdh).

The house, the release states, originally had “asbestos flooring, peeling paint, old stained carpets and water damage on wall paneling and ceiling. The home had little-to-no insulation in some areas, half-removed wall paper, a tiny kitchen with dated appliances, drafty windows and a second story broken up into small rooms with a very narrow, dark hallway.”

Newman, the construction manager of the house until he recently moved to New Jersey, said the cellar was left open for “about four to five years.”

“It froze and thawed [over and over again]. It was a mess,” he added.

Newman noted the cellar’s walls were “beautiful stone walls,” but it lacked preservation. Despite this, Newman said, the foundation was kept intact.

“After gutting the interior and stripping the exterior of the house, the home was re-roofed and re-sided, the front porch was restored with a historical Greek Revival design, the house was insulated, and new flooring and appliances were installed. The whole house was painted and a new efficient HVAC system installed,” the release states, noting improvements to the home.

“The house stayed together,” Newman said. “The wood [in the house] is beautiful. We ended up replacing a lot of beams, but we worked really hard and had a lot of fun doing it.”

MacCarrick noted the pandemic slowed down the process of rehabilitating the home, but Habitat For Humanity’s construction crew “kept moving.” MacCarrick said the funding for the project came through the Community Housing Development Fund, a conjoined funding effort between Tompkins County, the city of Ithaca and Cornell University.

“We could not have completed this project without the six figures in funding,” MacCarrick said. “It is unique that an affiliate has a county, a city and a university that work together for affordable housing.”

Simon Gould, who replaced Newman as the construction manager, noted the “dedicated construction crew” for the housing project.

“They helped renovate a product that the [LaValley family] would want to live on,” Gould added, noting that 95% of the construction crew were volunteer workers.

“Simon has been a huge part of making this [project] successful,” Newman said.

Liz Warner, Habitat for Humanity’s family services coordinator, mentioned she’s been working with the LaValley family since September 2020.

“They’ve been so hardworking and patient. This is a really exciting day for all of us,” Warner said.

She noted that Seth and Taylor kept the house as a surprise for their four children.

Warner noted it is “very heartwarming and rewarding” when a family gets to “close on a house” and “get to the ribbon-cutting ceremony.”

“We’re beyond grateful,” Taylor said. “It’s always been a dream to have a house, so this is super exciting to finally have it.”

Dryden Dispatch appears every Wednesday in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com.

In brief:

SOMAT 2022 event this Saturday

The SOMAT 2022 event is this Saturday from noon to 8 p.m. at the Hopshire Farm & Brewery on 1771 Dryden Rd. in the village of Freeville.

The event will honor the memory of Luke Vitarius and benefit the Ithaca Health Alliance/Ithaca Free Clinic. The event is free, with a $10 requested donation.

Musical performances at the event include MOFOS, The 86ers, Absolute Garbage, Thirsty, fatFinger, g9 and more.

For those who can’t make it to the event, donations can be made online through the Ithaca Free Clinic’s website at ithacahealth.org.