A group assessing Providence's policies on the preservation of its historic buildings has finalized a course of action to thwart the demolition of historical but poorly maintained structures, according to an April 4 press release from the mayor's office.
The Mayor's Working Group on Historic Preservation was formed after the controversial demolition of the Providence Fruit and Produce Warehouse Co. building late last year, according to an April 10 Providence Journal article.
Though city officials had to order the demolition of the historic structure after deeming it unsafe, some blamed the owners for failing to take better care of the notable building, according to the article.
Established by Mayor David Cicilline '83 at the end of January, the working group met biweekly starting in mid-February, according to the Department of Planning and Development Web site. A draft of the Demolition Delay Policy provides guidelines to deal with the proposed demolition of any historic building.
If a building is not labeled as dangerous, a local review board will evaluate the situation with no further involvement from building officials, according to the draft. When a building is deemed to be unsafe but not in "imminent danger of collapse," the review board will assemble as soon as possible while building officials instruct the owner to make the structure safe.
Lastly, when a building is both unsafe and likely to collapse, an emergency committee will decide the fate of the structure and a demolition will be ordered if the committee concludes that the building cannot be rescued.
The mayor signed a second executive order approving the Demolition Delay Policy on March 31, and the working group is set to submit a final report of their evaluations to the mayor on Tuesday, according to the group's Web site.
The group also addressed "demolition-by-neglect," defined by the executive order as a situation when a historic building has disintegrated into "disrepair" as a result of the actions of the owners. A document titled "Demolition-by-neglect policy for historic structures," provided on the working group's Web site outlines the strategy for these cases: After compiling a list of historic structures that are at risk of demolition-by-neglect, city officials will determine the steps needed to rectify the dangerous conditions and prevent the buildings from further decline.
Additionally, since the responsibility of making the structure safe will lie with the owner, legal action may be taken in case the response is not satisfactory, according to the policy.
The executive order charged the group with three tasks: creating a policy to delay the demolition of historic buildings, addressing the problem of demolition-by-neglect and identifying other buildings which should be, but are not currently designated as protected, said Robert Azar, director of current planning in the department of planning and development and staff member of the working group.
The group was assigned to establish "how city officials act," and ensure that the procedure allows for "good communication" between departments, Azar said.
In addition, there was "serious concern" about the demolition-by-neglect dilemma and the mayor wanted to "proactively deal with the situation," Azar said.
As far as cataloguing structures that are not currently on the National Register of Historic Places, the group will "evaluate historical significance based on documentation," and the process will take several months, he added.
When asked about buildings that may have been undeservedly demolished, Azar said that there were three cases last year in which "preservationists questioned whether the buildings had to be given permission for emergency demolition without going through the required review process."
The three structures in question were the Providence Fruit and Produce Warehouse Co. building, the Old Public Safety Complex and the Pardon Clarke House at 155 Chestnut St., Azar said.
Preservationists were unconvinced that the conditions of these structures were so dangerous that the normal evaluation procedure "didn't have time to unfold," he said.
Further complicating matters, a judge decided last week that the historic Grove Street School be partially demolished even though the building's demolition was started illegally, according to an April 11 Providence Journal article.
In the contentious case, the judge fined the owners and ruled "a writ of mandamus," essentially ordering the building official to grant the permit for demolition, thus speeding the process, according to the article.
Providence has been permitting demolitions "seemingly in violation of the city's own ordinances," said Edward Sanderson, executive director of the Rhode Island historical preservation and heritage commission, which classifies buildings and structures as historic and develops programs to preserve these sites.
The working group is "the mayor's attempt to bring violators under some regulation," he added.
The working group was helpful in identifying some historical properties in the city that are "now essentially protected from demolition," said William Touret, president of the College Hill Neighborhood Association, who attended all of the group's meetings.
Touret said that, in his understanding, this effort was the first part of a long-term process to protect historic structures.
However, CHNA preferred that the city articulate a policy making "any demolition applied to a historic building to be least necessary" and that "all reasonable avenues be pursued" prior to a demolition, Touret said.
The discretion of the Department of Planning and Development was a concern, Touret said, calling it "too broad and not subject to checks and balances."
