SWAMPSCOTT — Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald has recommended the town adopt an appeal to its demolition delay bylaw. The bylaw change would allow developers to appeal a demolition delay imposed by the Historical Commission.
The recommendation for the appeal followed the Historical Commission’s decision last week to place a nine-month demolition delay on White Court, which halted a development team’s plans to build 18 oceanfront condominiums on the property.
White Court was built in 1896 and served as the summer White House of President Calvin Coolidge in 1925. The 6.2-acre property on Littles Point Road most recently served as the the former Marian Court College.
Nick Meninno, of the development team CC White Court LLC, said last week that the demolition delay imposed by the Historical Commission may have taken away the team’s incentive to save the property and recreate it as a replica.
Their incentive was to spend the cost to reconstruct and preserve items and reconstruct White Court in its current architecture, which is a significantly higher square-foot cost to recreate that type of construction.
The development team’s initial plan was to preserve and convert the existing mansion into six condominiums, demolishing and replacing the additions on either side with two more buildings with six condos each, but Meninno said the condition of the building’s foundation caused those plans to shift to taking the mansion apart and reconstructing it.
Last week, Fitzgerald recommended to the Board of Selectmen that the town adopt an appeal for the demo delay bylaw, which would have to be approved at Town Meeting next month. He recommended the Board of Selectmen be the appeal authority — the selectmen are sponsoring the article for Town Meeting.
The way it would work is if the Historical Commission imposes a demolition delay, the developer would be able to appeal the decision to the selectmen.
Fitzgerald said the Board of Selectmen had asked him to take a look at some of the town’s bylaws before the Historical Commission’s vote, but that White Court has been the elephant in the room for the past year. He said it’s not clear if the bylaw change, if approved, would apply to White Court.
Fitzgerald said there is an appeals process for other regulatory boards in town. He told the Board of Selectmen their job is a little different from many of the regulatory committees, which gives the board a chance to see a different perspective of certain projects.
Fitzgerald said the Historical Commission is focused on historical preservation when looking at a project, but may not see other priorities or other impacts for the community, and may not think about other legal risks or benefits to the community.
“Demo delay is an important tool and I certainly share (the Historical Commission’s) passion for preserving the history of Swampscott,” Fitzgerald said. “I think a lot of us care about Swampscott. My recommendation is based on just making sure we have a due process and I want to make sure that we protect the town … That doesn’t necessarily mean that the decision of the Historical Commission won’t be upheld or won’t have merit.
“It just adds a check and a balance of power and authority and I think in a community, it will help the integrity of the process and should really be seen as just an opportunity to be fair.”
The demolition delay is intended to allow the commission, the owner and the community to explore ways to preserve the property or mitigate the effects of demolition.
The town’s preservation of historically significant buildings bylaw, also known as the demolition delay bylaw, was enacted by Town Meeting in 2004 and requires the building inspector to notify the Historical Commission when a request is received for the demolition of a building 75 years or older.
Sylvia Belkin, vice-chair of the Historical Commission, said she disagreed with the prospect of the demolition delay appeal being presented at Town Meeting next month.
‘If I were going to tear down a 150-year-old house and I was told I couldn’t do it because I was told it was historically relevant by the Historical Commission, I would just appeal it,” Belkin said. “So, what it does is it totally undermines everything we’re trying to do in the community.”
Selectman Peter Spellios said the demolition delay bylaw is the only regulatory process in town that doesn’t have redress, or the possibility of an appeal.
“Maybe there’s a way to try to facilitate conversation,” Spellios said. “It shouldn’t be easy to appeal, but I think the complete lack of appeal is a huge problem. Hypothetically speaking, if there was a procedural problem that gave rise to liability in the town, there’s nothing we can do about that. There’s no way to cure that.”
Naomi Dreeben, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, said the appeal process would allow the builder, if they’re aggrieved by a determination of the Historical Commission, to appeal to the selectmen, which can then either uphold or overturn the decision.
Selectman Donald Hause said historically, when the demo delay is used as a blunt tool, developers have said they’re not going to do anything and just wait it out.
“Just because we’re implementing an appeal, the ability to appeal doesn’t mean there’s a predisposition to overturn what the Historical Commission has decided,” Hause said. “It’s just an ability, a regulatory process where someone says I have a remedy potentially or the process for a remedy. It doesn’t mean we’re sitting here saying, the reason we’re putting it in is because we can deny the demo delay. Nor do we automatically want to say great, don’t bother with the nine-month demo delay — just come to us and appeal it.”
According to the warrant article, any person aggrieved by demolition delay imposed by the Historical Commission may file a written request for review with the Board of Selectmen, which has to be filed with the town clerk’s office within 14 days of the time the commission’s determination was filed with the town clerk. Within 45 days of receipt of the notice of appeal, the Board of Selectmen would hold a public hearing for the purpose of determining whether to uphold or overturn the commission’s determination.
The Board of Selectmen would then make their determination within 14 days of the conclusion of the public hearing.
“The Board of Selectmen may also take into account the quality of the materials remaining on the exterior of the structure and financial or other hardship that might be created for the owner based on the commission’s determination,” the article reads.
Centercorp principals Andrew Rose and Mark Klaman, along with Meninno and Bruce Paradise, who all live in town, have said their plan is to redevelop the White Court property into 18 oceanfront condominiums. The units, which would be restricted to those 55 and older, would be priced at $2.25 million.