HISTORIC
DISTRICT COMMISSION
Judge Welsh Hearing Room
Members Present: Polly
Burnell, John Dowd, Marcene Marcoux, and Carol Neal.
Members
Absent: Nathan Butera
and E. Clothier Tepper
Staff: Maxine Notaro
Work Session at
2007-07
(Continued from
Application by Robert Valois
for a
Certificate to be issued in accordance with the Provincetown Historic District
Commission established under the General By-Laws, Chapter 15 of the Town of
Robert
Valois presenting. Carol Neal stepped down.
In
the new plan the building height has been reduced by 2 ½ ft. He took all the suggestions from the Board and put them into
the new plan. Polly Burnell thought it
reads O.K. The windows on the second
level have become smaller to keep the proper scale.
Motion: Accept as presented by citing many of the
guidelines under the 15 series as the reconsideration for the addition.
Motion: John Dowd Seconded: Polly Burnell Vote:
3-0-0.
184B
Minutes of November 15th
and December 13th meetings.
Motion: Approve the minutes of the above two
meetings.
Motion: John Dowd
Seconded: Carol Neal Vote:
4-0-0.
Peter
Page will notify all the contractors to have a meeting to discuss procedures
and address any concerns the contractors may have. The meeting will take place on February 6th at
2006 –
This
meeting was called to order at
Glen
Parker, Cheryl Bready, and Ed Patton, their attorney, discussed all the facts
of the case that had been presented to the Commissioners at the previous
meeting on January 10th. Glen
Parker again said that anything done in error was done by him and it’s
important to convey that point. Pursuant
to this he has letters of recommendation from projects they have done as they
relate to the concerns of preservation.
He hopes this will provide a character reference – from architects in RI
etc.
Parker Thompson letters of
professional support were from:
Jack A. Gold - Executive Director -
William L. Kite, Jr. - Principal - William Kite Architects,
Inc.
Scott Weymouth - Arris Design -
Thomas A. Jenckes
historic house renovation - Providence, RI
The local contractors who have
been employed on the project follows:
E.F. Winslow -
Long Point Electric -
Winkler Construction -
Lower
Marc E. Schaefer - N. Eastham
Bouse House - Forestdale
Patrick Trainor - N. Eastham
A1A Steel -
MV Hardwood Floors - Vineyard Haven
Douglas T. Papp -
Wesley Medeiros Welding -
Ethan Poulin, Inc. -
J&L Enterprises -
Glen
Parker continued reiterating the timeline on how this project unfolded. On August 8th he presented the
final plan to the HDC. A building permit
was approved on Sept 11th; it was filed and issued on Sept 18th. He met with Doug Taylor and began
construction on Sept 25th. In
doing this reconstruction, they found that the building had been compromised
and were told to get a structural engineer.
They had the engineer come in, he did an assessment and deemed that the
building was not structurally sound. A
stop work order on the foundation happened on November 9th. Glen had conversations on all of this and
went through the structural drawings and sent out letters to neighbors, etc.
letting them know what had happened.
C.H. Pressler sent documents that said how they could meet the building
requirements.
On
November 12 & 13th, Glen Parker had an initial meeting with Dick
Anderson, the Building Inspector, and told him that they were going to
reconstruct the building. They would
only stamp restructuring the building. Carol
Neal asked if the word "demolition" was ever discussed? Answer: No – because we were trying to
restructure the building. The building
was basically held together with trim and plaster. We did what we were anticipating and what we
had to do. We were upfront and did the
work that was indicated by those drawings and then Polly Burnell and Carol Neal
looked over the building on December 15th. Polly said, “There’s nothing left.” It was determined that Polly had said this to
Dell who reported that they were satisfied that everything was fine. Marcene Marcoux asked, "Did we issue a
violation on that day?"
Answer: "No, but Polly spoke
to Doug Taylor about this." On
January 3rd Glen Parker got a call from Doug Taylor about the
structure and on January 5th a stop work order was put on the
site. A meeting was held on January 8th,
the following Monday, and they talked about the temporary structure and reason
that they had not notified the HDC.
Carol Neal said, "So that brings us to this meeting."
Glen
Parker said they did – to the best of his ability – comply with all the
requirements you had. Ed Patton
presented the photos of the existing conditions of when Glen Parker’s company
went to the site. What happened here
could be an oversight - whether there was an oversight – or what, Ed Patton
believes Mr. Parker has been very forthcoming and upright. He then named all the committees that they
had gone through (Zoning, Planning, Conservation, and Historic) and he thinks
that Glen covered all the bases. Ed
Patton said that he’s not minimizing anything but the HDC is not faced with
someone who wantonly avoided procedures.
Major renovations had to be done and we’re here to try to find a
solution. Mr. Patton sincerely hoped
that we can come to some resolution.
Glen
Parker said that it is still our desire and intention to complete this project
with the approved design and we have salvaged much of the material and we want
to use them.
Doug
Taylor then began his recollection of events:
On
Glen
Parker understands that now but he never took the whole building down. Once the dormers were taken off, then the
roof that was left became dangerous for his workmen.
Doug
Taylor said that when he went out there, the 2nd and 3rd
floors looked scraped off. All he saw
was the one story. On the 15 of December,
2006, it looked at though they had
reconstructed the entire floor.
Tom
Boland, Chair of the Historic Study Committee, said this is a very complicated
issue. The troubling thing is that there
are so many gray areas. This whole
construction is compromised and the HDC had no representative invited to see
how this was going. No outside source
was invited and this is the big problem of this commission whose job was
mandated – to oversee this – and he has a problem with someone saying it’s O.K.
take it down.
The
contractor talked about how different designers supported him - but – we don’t
have a paper trail and that is another difficult precedent. The 143 MA general by-law – section 6.2 - is vague on preventing demolition. The
benchmark is the Building Commissioner - he has the right to authorize
demolition.
Dick
Anderson, the Building Inspector, said he didn’t understand it to be a total
demolition. He thinks this is a big
problem since most structures in town would never get a guarantee from an
engineer that this building will stand up to a hurricane. It’s incumbent on an Historic Commission to
determine how far is too far? There has
to be a mechanism where an applicant has to report changes prior to a
demo.
John
Bennett, a member of the audience, said he is working with Parker Thompson and
in working closely with these guys there has been no talk of demolition. (He is a native of
Another
contractor said that he’s upset and he’s working on a building right across the
street that is compromised – they’re all compromised!
Negative letters:
Michael Mazur -
Sheila McGuiness -
Support letter:
Joan and Albert Marsh -
Doug
Taylor received commentary from our town counsel through the Town Manager and
John Georgio, the counsel, said that the fine cannot exceed $500.
15.10
enforcement penalties state $250/day – Doug Taylor said that our local
guidelines trump state guidelines – meaning per day….. it’s a new violation
each day.
Carol
Neal contacted the MA historic commission – she also contacted one of the
architects of the by-laws – Eric Dray – and the house should be made to build
back whatever was there. Fine should be
levied on a per day basis. She thinks
she should bring an article before town meeting and determine fines for
unauthorized demolition.
Dick
Anderson was called in and asked – when the drawings were brought to you – did
you think that their intention was to demolish the building? Answer:
No, we wouldn’t have said just go ahead and take it down.
Ed
Patton asked: "What is the definition of demolition since this was piece
by piece." He was evidently making
a lawyer’s argument for the definition of demolition.
John
Dowd says if we find out that 500 dollars is the upper limit for the total
fine, then maybe we’re wasting our time here.
John Dowd also said that we want to find out through town counsel that
we’re not going to be overturned.
Doug
Taylor said applicants should be handed a sheet with specifications. The applicants feel they were building
something identical to what it was.
Glen
Parker said the application was exactly the same as was approved. Thought we were abundantly clear with
that. The intent has not been
violated. What is the best for
Then
the Commissioners' deliberations began:
Carol
Neal and Polly Burnell felt that they needed more investigative time and cited
the MLK holiday as holding up their investigation into procedural issues - even
though at a meeting a week ago the research was going to begin.
Marcene
Marcoux stated that - granted we were out of the loop - but this is significant
in terms of intent. HDC wasn’t easy on
the applicant and they have tried to work with us. Who is responsible for all of this? We met last week and we needed more
time. Fine from Jan 5th until
the building is externally completed.
This could be a compromise situation. Marcene thinks it should be
resolved today. We have to be
responsible professionally.
John
Dowd said that $250/day is what our by-law reads.
Glen
Parker knows HDC has a global issue in town but he has individual issues. If the fine is imposed until he has the
building reframed and then HDC could come and reinspect the building and I could
resolve the issue. It would take 4 or 5
weeks to frame the building and the violation could be remedied in 5 or 6
weeks.
Doug
Taylor said if you want us certify the framing – 5 weeks is about a $10K fine
or more!
Carol
Neal still debated while Marcene Marcoux said we need a resolution - now. This is what she felt last week and we’re not
any farther ahead than we were. We need
some kind of action.
Glen
Parker said he was willing to offer community service or willingly provide a
contribution to a special HDC fund. The
Bready's have not done anything wrong.
It involves substantial money to me personally. He thinks this is a reasonable position.
John
Dowd feels this is right.
Marcene
Marcoux said she is citing HDC guidelines and fines should be imposed up until
the building is reframed. So I think we
have something in concert. Right now some
are talking about the future and this case involves the present. This is a significant fine given the
case. Glen Parker is trying to work with
HDC.
Doug
Taylor – when you say – get the framing up – HDC is concerned with the
exterior. At that point it will include
the frame, siding, windows, and everything in place….. Does that give you a
comfort level? That’s a 3rd
party view.
John
Dowd – there will be a fine on top of this.
He wants to decide this. We may
be in a deadlock here.
Glen
Parker said that he would accept the fine from the day Polly Burnell said she
was offended and in addition he will personally provide money for the HDC for a
special fund to provide information and education about the HDC. He’s reaching out as far as he can. Glen Parker doesn't take this fine lightly
since he has five children to support and three of them are currently in
college.
Motion: Allow the project to proceed and charge a
$250/day fine from December 15th until the building is framed and
the shell of the building reflects the approved HDC plan. Also accept a donation of $5K from Glen
Parker to an HDC special fund to help educate and deal with HDC concerns
Motion: John Dowd Seconded: Carol Neal Vote:
4-0-0.
The meeting adjourned
at 5:43 p.m.
The
secretary was then asked to reopen her computer so that an attorney, Jay Murphy,
for
Respectfully
submitted,
Evelyn Gaudiano
Approved by _____________________________ on ____________, 2006.
John Dowd, Chair