Leary Property Community Housing Task Force 2011-05-25-LEARY-rpt (FINAL)

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LEARY PROPERTY COMMUNITY HOUSING TASK FORCE FINAL REPORT MAY 25, 2011 The Task Force spent considerable time researching the feasibility of a curatorship program to identify a steward for the house who could direct its renovation, as utilized by the Commonwealth's Department of Conservation and Recreation for structures in its care. A number of complicating factors led the group away from this, not the least of which is that the selected occupant would have to be income-eligible for affordable housing. DCR requires that the occupant steward have the means to invest in the structure, which greatly reduces the universe of possible stewards. In this case, because of the need for the person to meet all other affordable housing requirements,the likelihood of finding a steward was negligible. Even more important, LexHAB made it clear to the Task Force that it did not wish to manage a rehabbed structure as an affordable housing unit, as the issues outlined above would be an ongoing drain on the organization's time and resources. In November 2010,the Task Force made a formal recommendation to the Board of Selectmen, that it make funding requests to the Community Preservation Committee for predevelopment work on the site, and also stabilization of the farmhouse pending a decision on its preservation. Based on the SALEMI REPORT and the subsequent discussions of it,the Board of Selectmen determined that the preservation of the existing building would not be appropriate due to the high costs of renovation relative to its potential re-use as a community housing unit. Further,the Selectmen were concerned that due to the deterioration of the farmhouse, preservation would involve replacement of such a significant portion of materials that the end result would be the creation of a replica, rather than preservation of a historic structure. At the Task Force's first community meeting with the neighborhood, the residents expressed their frustration with that decision as they had previously stated their wish to preserve the farmhouse. However, as the Task Force's role is only advisory to the Board of Selectmen, it accepted the Selectmen's decision as final and proceeded with their charge on the assumption that the existing structure would not be a part of the redeveloped site. Because the house is potentially subject to a one-year demolition delay imposed by the Historical Commission in accordance with local bylaws,the Selectmen or their designee (LexHAB) should make prompt application to the Commission for a demolition permit. The enforced delay allows a period of time for the applicant to seek alternative means to preserve the structure. The Task Force echoes a statement made at the 2011 Town Meeting, that the structure should be made available at nominal cost to anyone who wishes to remove it for purposes of preservation. If it is to be removed or subject to a year delay,the sooner such an application is made the less likely the delay will impact the construction of the recommended plan, whatever that ultimately turns out to be. (See Appendix 3 for Task Force member Betsey Weiss' Exception Report on this issue.) 4