ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 30, 1996 TAG: 9612020037
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
The city is promising to take any legal action it can against the owner of two historic homes in Gainsboro that may have been illegally torn down this week.
Calvin Powers, owner of 319 and 321 Jefferson St. N.E., had contractor Alan Amos take the homes down on Wednesday. The city building commissioner's office issued demolition permits for the sites the day before - perhaps by mistake.
Both buildings are in a Gainsboro historic district established by City Council earlier this year and were not supposed to be demolished without the approval of the city's Architectural Review Board. But the board never was consulted, city officials said.
"I'm very sad, and I'm shocked," said Helen Davis, a Gainsboro activist. She and her sister, Evelyn Bethel, had fought for the historic district since 1991.
"Once a neighborhood is historic, you have to act under the rules and regulations - I thought," Davis added. "If people aren't going to play by the rules, it makes you wonder: When is it going to stop?"
"It's such a small district that the loss of two structures is very important," said Evie Lander, the city planner who worked on the neighborhood's designation. She estimated that about 30 homes exist in the district.
The fact that demolition permits may have been issued in error doesn't let the owner off the hook, because he had been informed in writing that he needed formal approval from the review board, city officials said.
"I can't talk to you. I don't want to," said Powers, a principal in Blue Eagle Partnership, the owner of the properties named on the demolition permit. "Call me next week and I might talk."
"We got the permits, we got the permits just like they were supposed to have been gotten," Amos said on Friday. "If they were issued illegally, the city did it. That's all I can say."
Blue Eagle also owns the old Stone Printing Building on Jefferson Street, which is cater corner from the demolished homes. That building is slated to be the new home for Social Security Administration offices.
City officials believe Powers wanted the homes demolished to create additional parking for the SSA offices. But the site is zoned for residences and cannot be used for parking unless the zoning is changed, Lander said.
Powers originally applied to demolish the homes last December, as the city announced plans to create a historic district in the neighborhood.
Building Commissioner Ron Miller said the demolitions were approved at the time, but the city never issued the permits after officials talked Powers out of knocking down the homes. Instead, they were boarded up.
In February, City Council created the historic district, which generally forbids demolitions unless approval has been obtained from the Architectural Review Board. If the board disapproves, demolitions are allowed only if the owner makes serious, unsuccessful attempts to sell a building.
In March, contractors began predemolition work. Miller said the city intervened and told Powers in writing that he couldn't demolish the structures until approval had been obtained.
In September, building inspectors cited Powers for building code violations and ordered him to make exterior repairs to both buildings, Miller said.
"He ignored those," Miller said. Powers then was summoned to court on Nov. 21. He asked for and was granted a continuance until Dec. 19.
In the meantime, Amos appeared in the building commissioner's office Tuesday and asked for the demolition permits. A clerk there reviewed the file and issued them after seeing that the demolitions were approved last December, Miller said.
The permit is contingent upon the owner and contractor conforming with all applicable laws and ordinances, Miller said. The contractor assured the clerk that everything was in order, Miller added.
Miller at first said the permits were issued "in error" if Amos didn't have approval. But later in the interview he said they weren't issued in error. In any event, "it was the contractor's and the owner's responsibility to have all the approvals they needed to have, and they told the desk clerk that everything was in order and had been approved," Miller said.
"It still doesn't relieve the owner from doing all he's supposed to do," Miller said.
The buildings were torn down on Wednesday.
"By the time we realized what had happened, they had knocked them down," Miller said.
City Manager Bob Herbert sent a letter to council members on Wednesday informing them of the demolitions. "Such an action may constitute a violation of the city's zoning ordinance," Herbert wrote.
Gainsboro residents "have been informed that the city will take any possible and appropriate legal action against the property owner," he added in the letter.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON Staff The ruins of the two demolishedby CNBhouses at 319 and 321 Jefferson St. N.E. The fact that permits were
issued doesn't let the owner off the hook, officials said. color.
Graphic: Map by staff. color.