FALMOUTH — After months of discussion, owners of West Falmouth Crossing have told the town and Lions Club to remove a bottle donation shed from the shopping plaza.

The shed has been on the property, near the Leighton Road entrance, for 18 years. During that time the club has raised more than $80,000 for scholarships for Falmouth High School graduates, along with other local charitable causes, from donations of returnable bottles.

The shed is now closed and Town Manager Nathan Poore said the owners association “recently asked we get (the move) done as soon as possible.”

The bottle shed is owned by the town, but operated by the Lions Club.

Tony Hayes, a Lions Club member who was in charge of the bottle shed, last fall said having the shed at West Falmouth Crossing kept it in the public spotlight.

The problem with moving it, Hayes said then, is that it has to continue to be visible and convenient for people to use in order to be successful.

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Earlier this month, Dick Rogers, the property manager for West Falmouth Crossing, sent an email to Hayes that said “I have exhausted all options that I can think of” to keep the bottle shed in its current location.

“The members of the West Falmouth Crossing Owners Association have unanimously voted on two separate occasions that the bottle shed must go,” Rogers said in the email. “We sincerely hope you find a suitable solution (and) … respectfully require that the shed be shut down and removed as soon as possible.”

This week Poore said the town is working with the Lions Club to find a new location for the shed, which was originally built as an Eagle Scout project.

John Winslow, a West Falmouth resident and Lions member, said he’s spearheading the effort to find a way for the bottle shed to “still benefit the kids and the schools,” and said he hopes to find another suitable location soon.

He said the Lions Club has always been “very good about maintaining and running the shed,” and “there’s been a lot of confusion” about why it has to be moved after all these years.

Last fall, Rogers said the bottle shed was originally placed at West Falmouth Crossing without any official approval from the owners association.

This month he said its presence “puts the association in direct violation of the (easement and covenant agreements) that we are governed by.”

The Lions Club and several other organizations share donations at two other bottle sheds, at Central Fire Station on Bucknam Road and at the Woods Road transfer station.

Kate Irish Collins can be reached at 710-2336 or kcollins@theforecaster.net. Follow Kate on Twitter: @KIrishCollins.

After 18 years, the Falmouth Lions Club must remove this bottle shed from West Falmouth Crossing at the request of the shopping plaza owners.


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