Winchester’s historic district commission voted Monday, 4-1, to deny an application by Zaremba Group of Cleveland to demolish the 200-year-old house at 71 Main St. and replace it with a new Dollar General store. The house is part of the town’s historic district and needs approval from the commission before it can be removed.
“The place looks square and plumb,” said Michael Haman, commission chairman and a professional carpenter. “My first gut feeling looking at the place is it doesn’t look as bad as many of you are portraying it.”
Sherman Tedford, who represents the board of selectmen on the commission, was the one member to vote against denying the application.
“I don’t see it being a significant element of historic value,” Tedford said of the building.
The house was built around 1810 and was the home and office space of doctors who served Winchester residents from 1812 to 1848, according to Lynne Emerson Monroe, a historical preservationist from Kensington hired to consult with the commission.
The building itself is not a candidate for official designation on the National Register of Historic Places, but it makes a “substantial contribution” to the Winchester Historic District, Monroe wrote in her report on the building.
If the district as a whole were added to the national register, the owner of the house would be able to take advantage of tax credits to refurbish it as a business, Monroe said in an interview this morning.
“There’s no question in my mind that the quality of the district is high and it would be eligible for the national register, but it hasn’t gone through the paperwork,” she said.
Margaret A. Sharra and James S. Shannon, both of Winchester, and their brother, Michael P. Shannon of Connecticut, own the house and its 4-acre lot. Sharra is a member of the town planning board.
When the siblings bought the building in 2008 they intended to turn it into a bed and breakfast or restaurant, but when they found out how much it would cost to restore the building they decided to sell, James Shannon told The Sentinel in late May.
The historic district commission held a public hearing on the application to demolish the building, which began on June 14 and concluded Monday.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing the house go, but my concern is what would be put in its place,” resident Harry J. Bickford said.
The proposed Dollar General building was criticized for looking like a strip mall, and several residents asked if at least the exterior of the old house could be preserved as part of a new business development.
But others said Winchester shouldn’t turn away a new investor.
“We live in a poor community. We’ll never have enough money in this community to take care of that building,” resident John Pasquarelli said. “If someone wants to come into our community and spend money, we should put our hand out and take that money.”
Zaremba Group representative Matthew Chase said Dollar General was prepared to invest as much as $1 million to develop the property, and the store would employ between eight and 10 people. The stores carry a range of products priced between $1 and $40, he said.
Chase said his company estimated that restoring and renovating the building to use as a restaurant or bed and breakfast would cost $690,000.
Selectman Ken Gardner spoke during the public hearing.
“If the board denies this application, what do the present owners do now?” he asked.
But commission member Harvey Sieran denied the commission was placing an unfair economic burden on the owners.
As a member of town government, Sharra was aware of the building’s address in the historic district at the time of purchase, he said.
Sieran also questioned the claim that the siblings had tried but were unable to find a different buyer for the property. He had looked for the building listed with local real-estate agencies and hadn’t found it, he said during the meeting.
After the vote, Sharra declined to name the agent but said the building had been on the market.
10 comments:
Poor Sharra, ain't getting rich off this mess she's created. Funny how she won't name the realtor she used to list this property. We all know if she had nothing to hide she'd come clean; but she's painted herself in a corner with all of her lies.
Kudos to the board for not changing the rules during the middle of the game. Should this property be sold at tax sale then maybe someone will purchase it and restore it.
Maggie needs to know that people are not taking her word at face value. The citizens of this town want equality and justice for all not just a select few. People are now doing their homework and overturning the stones.
Pay attention to what is happening I do believe that change is coming.
Sherman showed is true colors on this one.
Did anyone doubt Sherm would back her play? Don't they stick together thick as thieves downtown? Once again he's shown that rules 'only' apply to the minions and not town royalty.
Sharra listed it, (if she listed it her property at all) with Kathy Beaman "cilly", Sharra is not going to pay a listing fee and agents sellers fees. Let her show where in the MSL were it was listed they keep record for a long time...
I checked a real estate web site (NNEREN.com) and her property is not listed there yet. I know that this town has a lot of properties for sale in particular the Beaman property. The web site indicated that it has been sold. Wonder if they are going to pack up their trucks and move out of Dodge? If Beaman's move what kind of support do you expecgt Margaret to have?
I'm SO glad they had the backbone to stand up and say NO, we have lost WAY to many historic places here in town. Finally a ray of hope & sunshine...
Cant wait to see if this property goes on the market, Then people like this Julia and others with the HDC can man up buy the place and restore it with her own money and keep our "heritage" as she called it. but I have a feeling we are all going to be stuck with another eyesore for many years to come because of this unneeded HDC group. I cant wait for march when we can get rid of this Committee that does nothing but keep or town run down and ugly.
If it had ever been on the market it would have probably been in the hands of a local owner who would have already taken care of the building and it would not only been less of an eyesore as you call it; but a nice looking addition to Main Street. For your information several people wanted to purchased this building when it first was listed; but were discouraged by a certain self serving person in the Land Use Office who convinced them not to buy it. Once interest waned, guess who purchased it and turned it into a tenement building and then evicted her tenants so she could make a secret deal to sell to an out of state chain store? Lots of backroom dealing going on here, waging tongues have leaked the real story behind this move.
As for getting rid of the HDC, we'll be waiting and we'll show up in numbers you can't count to support the people who value our town's heritage and those who came before us.
A little research and you will discover that Sharra & Shannon bought the house for a STEAL - a little over $100,000. The original plan was to tear it down and build CONDOs! Can you imagine that flying by the Historic District Commission? Ted Whippie wasn't hot on the idea either.
Between all three owners - they haven't been able to pay the property taxes. Guess that is part of the contingency plan with Dollar General when purchasing it.
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