CUMBERLAND — Funding for the Canal Place Preservation & Development Authority appears safe — for now, at least.

Delegate LeRoy Myers said recent meetings with lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee, and one Wednesday with John Boyle, an attorney for Trestle Development LLC, made him feel slightly better about the overall project.

“I was quite alarmed when I heard what I heard” when Canal Place officials testified before committee members about funding for fiscal 2009, which begins July 1. He said he learned Canal Place leaders “had not been doing their due diligence from last year.”

“The best part of the meeting was a scolding by the committee chairman,” Myers said. “He said, ‘Look, we told you to do this last year ... and it did not happen. What’s going on?’”

Edwards said he let Boyle know lawmakers across the state are “very frustrated,” noting groundbreaking for a new hotel “should have occurred in ’03.”

Myers contacted “everyone” with a vested interest in Canal Place — including board chairman Howard Buchanan, Boyle, Administrative Officer Michele Crabtree, Allegany County Chamber of Commerce President Barb Buehl and former House Speaker Cas Taylor, among others — and discussed the Canal Place lease with Trestle Development.

Wednesday’s meeting included Sen. George Edwards, Delegates Kevin Kelly and Wendell Beitzel, and Phil Deter, assistant attorney general and counsel for Canal Place. Myers said he’d heard rumblings about the legalities of the contract with Trestle. The series of recent meetings put a number of items to rest.

Everything appears to be legal, Myers said, adding the local delegation has requested a performance audit of Canal Place. Edwards said that type of audit allows for a deeper analysis of both the fiscal and operational aspects of Canal Place. Still, that doesn’t mean everyone will like current and future plans for the site.

“Although many might not like the deal that has been put together with Trestle, that’s what we have to live with,” Myers said. “Whether that’s good or whether that’s bad ...”

Canal Place and Trestle, along with new partner Concord Hotels, signed on Monday a lease for a new 108-room Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott. Once a building permit is obtained — and Myers said he’d ask the city to expedite its approval once requirements are met — the lease mandates the hotel be open to customers within 18 months.

Part of the controversy is attached to the historical sawtooth portion, which was an addition to the main Footer Dye Works building. Trestle has up to three years after the completion of the hotel to restore the main building, but Myers said he encouraged them not to wait that long. Myers suggested to Boyle that Trestle consider taking on an additional partner for the remaining Footer Dye Works building.

He even pointed out a developer of other local projects, Michael Joy, as a possible partner.

Joy, Myers told Boyle, “has proven he can do the job. Michael Joy needs to be talked to, needs to be brought into the equation and at least entertain the possibility of a partnership. That is my opinion.”

Boyle said it was possible and that he’d take that message back to his clients.

“The sawtooth building has to come down,” Buchanan said.

In 1996, Independent Consultants and Engineers Inc. of Severn conducted a study of the building. The building failed to meet preservation requirements on 87 of 127 “major structural components,” Buchanan said.

“Since that time, there has not been one thing done to eliminate the water penetration into the building,” Buchanan said. “It cannot be saved.”

Besides, Buchanan said, the space is needed to meet the required minimum number of parking spaces for the hotel and a future restaurant.

No matter what happens, Myers said, he made sure Trestle LLC got the message from the local delegation that progress needs to be made.

“Keep in mind, probably more than a dozen times I reminded (Boyle) — and looked him square in the eyes — and told him we’re watching intently,” Myers said. “The state (has) supplied the investment to get this going. We’re watching to make sure that this part of the Canal Place authority ... they don’t drag their feet.”

He called the hotel a “key element” to help the Shops at Canal Place.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.