ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 16, 1996 TAG: 9601160051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
MOST APPEALS by churches are aimed at a higher authority. But the case of a diocese trying to raze two buildings in Old Southwest will be decided by Roanoke City Council.
Church and state are convening tonight over an issue of historical, rather than metaphysical, dimension.
The question: shall the city let the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia tear down two houses the diocese owns on First Street Southwest to make way for an expansion of offices and meeting space?
The diocese says "yes," hinting it may otherwise have to move its headquarters out of the city. Old Southwest Inc., a neighborhood preservation organization, says "no," arguing that losing the houses at 1010 and 1014 First Street S.W. would harm the city's first residential historic district.
The dispute has simmered on the back burner for a decade. But the heat was turned up a notch in October when the Architectural Review Board deemed the houses "architecturally significant" and ruled that their loss would harm the 9-year-old historic district.
Now the diocese is appealing that decision to City Council, moving the question from an architectural arena into a political one.
Council will hear public testimony on the matter tonight at 7 p.m.. A decision may come after the public hearing.
"The question is where to draw the line between preserving history and progress," Councilwoman Linda Wyatt said Monday. "I've never been able to find a real clear black line saying, 'This is this, and this is that' on this issue. I truthfully do not know how I'm going to go on that one. ... I can see both sides on this sucker."
The diocese argues that the Architectural Review Board abused its discretion in turning down the diocese's application for a demolition permit. Among other things, its petition argues, the board's ruling was inconsistent with recent rulings allowing other demolitions on Day Avenue Southwest sought by First Baptist Church.
Although the diocese has offered $36,000 toward moving the structures, Old Southwest Inc. estimates that the total cost of moving them could reach $230,000, an amount far beyond the nonprofit organization's finances.
Not expanding would mean the diocese would have to remain in cramped quarters or go elsewhere. Renovating and attaching the houses is out of the question, said Bishop Heath Light.
"It would be an architectural disaster to merge them and a functional disaster to use them," Light said.
The Moore House, at 1014 First St., is not used now. The turreted Bishop Marmion Resource Center at 1010 First St. houses Christian education materials for churches and the Conflict Resolution Center, an independent organization.
Dick Willis, a former Old Southwest Inc. president who will address council tonight, said communication between the two groups has broken down since the architectural board's ruling. He believes council is not necessarily wedded to upholding the panel's decisions.
"The feeling in our mouths is that when we've opposed a demolition and the [review board] has supported us, City Council has overridden both groups," Willis said.
Light, however, is fearful that the decision will go the other way.
Council, he said, "sees the [review board] as their creation, and it would take a lot of persuasion to fly in the face of that."
The recent past seems to favor the diocese.
On at least three occasions since 1990, churches in or near Old Southwest have sought to tear down homes to increase their parking capacity.
In two cases, applications by First Baptist Church were approved by the review board, which ruled that four houses on Day Avenue the church wanted to demolish were not unique.
In a 1991 case, the board denied St. Mark's Lutheran Church's application to tear down the structure at 1001 Third St. S.W. to make room for parking. But City Council overruled that decision and allowed the demolition to proceed.
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