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02/24/2021 07:00 AMIn light of the announcement that a historic home located at 151-153 East Main Street may be spared from demolition, the Harbor News reached out to State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to find out more about the preservation process.
On Feb. 8, the Clinton Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC) held a public hearing on an application from developer Jay Kurup that seeks to build 32 apartments on two parcels off East Main Street. Dubbed Sterling Sands Condominiums, the application originally called for the demolition of a house built in the 1800s and a shed known the Corn Crib. However, at that hearing Feb. 8 meeting, Tony Bolduc, an agent for the applicant, said that the developer would be meeting with SHPO to explore the possibility of keeping the historic home on the property.
On Feb. 17, the Harbor News reached out to Todd Levine, a member of SHPO who is familiar with the situation at 151-153 East Main Street. Levine said at press time the office was working to wrap up the investigation into the merits of preserving the house.
Levine said that a trip would be made to the property so that architects and engineers could have access the house to assess the inside of it.
“We’ll look at how much integrity there is in the house both in structure and in historic fabric,” Levine said.
At the PZC hearing, Keith Ainsworth, an attorney for the development, said there may be legitimate concerns about the safety and historic integrity of the house. Ainsworth said there were signs of possible beetle damage, the house is currently missing one original chimney, and it has updates that are more modern such as vinyl sidings and an asphalt roof. Ainsworth did say that the development team had not given up yet on saving the house.
“At this point I don’t see...why it couldn’t be incorporated in the design,” Levine said
As for the Corn Crib, that building will likely be demolished since it is not in good condition, an assessment with which Levine agreed. Ainsworth said the developer would be open to moving the Corn Crib to another location if someone was interested.
After the site visit is complete, Levine said there will be a meeting of the State’s Historic Preservation Council on Wednesday, March 3. At that meeting the council will make a determination as to whether the house is worthy of preservation, and whether it’s feasible do that. If it is, a recommendation will be made to the State’s Attorney General’s Office to ask for the structure to be saved from demolition.
Levine said that a compromise could be hashed out between SHPO and the developers, one that benefits both sides. Levine said he would not speculate on what authority that council would have to enforce its ruling if it found the house worthy of preservation but the developer was opposed to it; Levine said that ball would be in the court of Attorney General’s Office. Levine sounded hopeful that a contentious process would not play out in Clinton.
“The owners have been very cooperative. The goal is to avoid a lawsuit,” Levine said.
The effort to save the house started last month after news of the application for the apartments reached Clinton citizen Peggy Adler. Adler created an online petition to urge the developers to incorporate the historic elements into the project design. The petition received close to 800 signatures and, as Adler has repeatedly pointed out, was not opposed to the development, just the demolition of the old structures.
In response to the support the petition garnered the developers agreed to look into the possibility of altering their plans for demolition.
Adler’s petition earned substantial attention, though not all of it was positive. Besides the many signatories, some social media users commented their displeasure on the petition possibly affecting the development. Some commenters expressed doubts about the value of the historic house and others argued that those in favor of keeping the historic house should have contributed money to purchase the house rather than try and force the owner to spend money to keep it.
Still, supporters have argued that the preservation of historic structures adds character and atmosphere to the town is something that is worth pursuing. Four years ago, a controversial application to build the current CVS location stirred up anger from some groups in town partly because that application led to the demolition of historic buildings that were on that property, a fact that still irks some people when they are reminded of the loss.
“Once those historic buildings are gone, they’re gone forever,” Levine said in reference to the state’s interest in working to protect historic buildings.
In light of the SHPO meeting on March 3, the PZC decided that it would be prudent to see the outcome of that meeting and to await a review of the application by the town’s engineers. The commission voted to continue the public hearing another month to Monday, March 8. At that meeting, it is likely the public will learn what the future will hold for the old house.