We’re told that city officials are not speaking with a unified voice on the matter, and that our longtime friend Krafty John has been engaged to defend the interests of the church.
(By the way, John, do you still have that silent auction item for redemption? Just a friendly reminder).
Anyone with the scuttlebutt?
Let us know.
Read the current St. Marks church newsletter here. The lead story by Rev. John Manzo addresses the church's plans.
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Previously at NA Confidential:
06/21/2006: St. Marks mulls the future of its property at the SE corner of Spring and Bank.
06/25/2006: UPDATED: By request ... views of St. Marks, the corner property and environs.
07/08/2006: UCC What You Get in The Tribune
Dear New Albanian,
ReplyDeleteThe matter was tabled untilNew Albany's City Attorney, Mr. Shane Gibson, can advise us on legal questions that arose during yesterday's Historic Preservation Commission Meeting. A special Historic Preservatin Commission meeting will be called to resume dicussions on the St. Marks Church demolition proposal.
Maury
It's not a good situation, IMO. St. Mark's refused a legitimate offer from a motivated buyer without even making a counter offer. The offer from the buyer included St. Mark's being able to continue to use the parking lot.
ReplyDeleteSt. Mark's doesn't have a great track record in terms of building preservation. When their church bell tower needed repairs, their answer was to tear it down to its current height (they said fixing was too expensive). Now they say that the bank bldg is too expensive to maintain--and their answer is to tear it down. And their air-conditioning unit in the education bldg is broken and they currently don't have the funds to fix that. Hope they don't want to tear that building down, also.
The attorney they hired told the HPC they would be sued if the demo permit was refused, and if St. Mark's won, the HPC would be liable for attorney fees. Several conversations among city employees involved in the demo request/process took place without the knowledge of the HPC.
As I said, it is a bad situation. I don't like seeing the HPC strong-armed, and I think that is what is happening.
A precedent is being set and that is if you don't like what the HPC decides, just threaten to sue them.
It states in the church newsletter that "We have been told that a demolition permit should be forthcoming in the near future, so will await further news on that front in another month or two."
ReplyDeleteIf that's correct, it would seem that someone is undermining the HPC. It would be nice to know who that is so the process is kept above board.