[MassHistPres] Church sues over district creation

[Aaron Marcavitch]

Should we assume this is a move because they hoped to tear it down?  I can't think of another reason why they would say this.  

Sounds like a great opportunity to have a design charette to come up with alternative  uses for the site and get some developers to pay attention to it.

Aaron

--------
http://www.marcavitch.com


--- On Thu, 1/21/10, Ralph Slate <slater at alum.rpi.edu> wrote:

> From: Ralph Slate <slater at alum.rpi.edu>
> Subject: [MassHistPres] Church sues over district creation
> To: "MassHistPres MA" <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
> Date: Thursday, January 21, 2010, 6:21 PM
> The Roman Catholic Diocese of
> Springfield is suing the city for including a church in a
> historic district:
> 
> http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/roman_catholic_diocese_of_spri_7.html
> 
> It's safe to say that this case has enormous impact on
> historic preservation in the state.
> 
> The basis for the suit is that historic designation of the
> church violates freedom of religion, speech, expression,
> assembly, and equal protection guaranteed under both the US
> and Massachusetts constitutions. The church is looking to
> nullify the district and is also seeking compensatory
> damages.
> 
> The church is advancing the theory that the district was
> created with unnecessary haste, and out of political
> expediency.
> 
> It is important to note that the church is no longer
> serving as a church -- it has been closed, and presumably
> deconsecrated. So even though it looks like a church, it is
> just a building now.
> 
> Ralph Slate
> Chair
> Springfield Historical Commission
> 
> ******************************
> For administrative questions regarding this list, please
> contact Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us
> directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO THE WHOLE LIST.
> MassHistPres mailing list
> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
> http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
> ********************************
>