A local historic preservation group said Wednesday it believes it has come up with a plan to save a structure that some Plymouth residents feel is one of the city's historic jewels, and what others feel is an eyesore and a danger to the surrounding neighborhood.

If the Plymouth Preservation Network (PPN) gets its way, the Daisy Air Rifle building would be turned into a pavilion that would anchor a new park.

The plan was met with positive reaction from the commissioners.

"I would like to commend you and all the people you worked with on this plan," said commissioner Joseph Phillips. "It's more than I could have hoped for when we decided to let you do this."

Daisy Air Rifle, the company known for inventing BB guns, was at one time the largest employer in Plymouth. In 1958, it moved to Rogers, AR, where the company is still headquartered.

The PPN, a nonprofit group committed to saving historic structures in the community, estimates the construction of the pavilion and surrounding landscaping to cost between $200,000 and $250,000, and they suggest that Joseph Freed & Associates shoulder most of the cost.

Dennis Harder, a vice president with Joseph Freed, says the company does not have the resources to pay for such a project.

"We're already at a point of distress on this project," Harter said, referring to the fact that they have yet to make any money on the condominium project.

The Daisy Wall saga began in 2003, when Chicago-based commercial real estate company Joseph Freed & Associates came to the Planning Commission to get permission to develop the land around the old Daisy building into condominiums, which are now called the Daisy Square Condominiums.

The original plan included saving at least three of the four factory walls and incorporating them into a new structure which would hold four condominium units.

Because of the real estate market crash in 2007, a large portion of the planned number of condos were never built, including the four-unit Daisy building. Over time, Joseph Freed demolished the walls of the old factory until just one wall stood.

In October 2010, Joseph Freed came back to the Planning Commission to ask for permission to knock down the remaining wall and turn the space into a park that would memorialize the Daisy company.

In subsequent meetings in November and December, several residents spoke out against the removal of the wall, while others, mostly residents of the Daisy Square Condominiums, supported Freed's desire to remove the wall due to safety concerns, such as loitering.

In December, the Planning Commission granted a three-month extension on Joseph Freed's contract when the Plymouth Preservation Network asked if they could try to come up with an alternative way to save the wall.

"Three months ago, it didn't seem fair to me that the commission was asking us to do in three months what Freed failed in doing after eight years," said Mark Malcolm, the PPN member heading up the Daisy wall project. "Now I'm thankful that they've given us this chance."

Throughout January and February, the PPN met with residents of the Daisy Square Condominiums and the surrounding neighborhood, members of the Planning Commission and Plymouth City Commission and a representative of Joseph Freed & Associates to come up with the plan. The final result is a pavilion anchored by a smaller version of the current Daisy wall.

"Residents asked us if we could reduce the scale of the wall because they thought it was too big," Malcolm said. "At first we didn't know how we could be true to historic preservation while also reducing the scale."

But then, he said, members of the PPN had an "a-ha moment" when they looked at an 1882 photo of the original building, which was only two stories as opposed to the current three, and narrower.

The plan would be to knock down part of the wall to make it more similar to the scale of the original building.

Another point of contention at Wednesday's meeting was who would pay for the cost of maintenance.

"I would like to see the cost of maintenance in the hands of the condo association or even the city," said commissioner Chris Harden. "I would not want to see Freed responsible for it in the long run, because real estate companies do go out of business."

According to Beth Foley, president of the condo association, condo residents don't want to be burdened with the cost of maintenance either.

"What we've heard so far from our residents is take the wall down," Foley said. "We cannot take on the maintenance. We're talking not only landscaping, but also a structure -- it's an undue burden on the association."

Foley did say, however, that she personally hopes everyone can come up with a solution to preserve "this piece of Plymouth history."

In the end, the Planning Commission decided the only thing it could do was elevate the issue to the City Commission and ask if the city would be willing to take on the property as a new city park, which would solve the discussion of maintenance costs.

Planning commissioner Jim Mulhern encouraged residents passionate about the project to take their comments to the city commission when they discuss the project at a yet-to-be-determined date.

Planning Commission Chairman Conrad Schewe recommended that in the meantime, the PPN continue meeting with Freed to work out what the company would be willing to pay for a new structure, if not the $200,000 estimated.