Stamford. The Rectory of Saint Andrew’s Episcopal
Church was demolished on February 11, after Judge Barbara Brazzel-Massaro ruled against preservationists in a lawsuit brought under
the Connecticut Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) to preserve the
house.
Save Old Stamford (SOS) filed the
lawsuit in December under CEPA, which allows any citizen to sue to prevent "the unreasonable
destruction of historic structures and landmarks of the state"—defined as
those listed on or under consideration for the National Register of
Historic Places (see
CPN, September/October 2009, January/February 2010).
The congregation has declined in
numbers and has tried for years to develop part of its large downtown property.
Several schemes have been proposed, some incorporating the house and some not. The
latest scheme, with developer Randy Salvatore, calls for razing the stone house
and building a 94-unit apartment tower.
Under his agreement with Saint
Andrew’s, Salvatore pays the church $20,000 per month ground rent and will
continue to do so until the new building is 85 percent occupied, at which time
he will complete the purchase. This agreement made the church, rather than
Salvatore, responsible for getting planning approvals for the project and for
demolishing the historic rectory.
Moreover, during the trial,
Salvatore said he would abandon the deal if forced to save the house. The Rev.
Richard Alton, the church’s priest-in-charge, testified that Saint Andrew’s
depends on Salvatore’s payments to keep operating. One half of the money was
going regularly for payroll, the other half was being set aside for the new
youth programs which the church plans to initiate and which are expected to
become its principal ministry. If Salvatore were to walk away, the church would
have to close its doors.
The
judge’s decision placed great weight on the church’s parlous finances, and the
hardship it would suffer if this deal were to fall through. "While the court understands
the plaintiff's desire to maintain this building as a historic building, the
costs associated with either the restoration or a combination of relocation and
restoration is overwhelming for a small parish that can barely break even on
income and expenses," she wrote.
