The Selectmen added a late agenda item, discussion of the Hendries building, to last night’s meeting. At the meeting the two Selectmen present, Sweeney and Keohane, heard from Joseph Prondak, Milton’s Building Commissioner, and John Grant, Fire Chief, regarding the safety of the building. Prondak has condemned the building and both officials said it should come down.
Mr. Prondak reported that it was unfortunate that the situation had come to this. The building has suffered a partial collapse and was “leaking like a sieve.” The hole is the roof is estimated to have been there for ~2 years. The inside is saturated and the inside has suffered deterioration. Prondak sent Connelly Construction, the owners of the property, a letter that was an order to take the building down or repair it as it was an “imminent threat”. The proximity of the Central Avenue T station is a major factor in the concern expressed.
Chief Grant cited the red square with the white X on the exterior of the building that is a sign to fire fighters to only deal with exterior operations. The only exception for entering the building would be for a life threatening situation. He said the size of the building and its ventilation system made it a unique fire hazard.
Also present was Brian McDonough, an attorney representing Connelly Construction. Mr. McDonough referenced a report by Cowen Associates, an engineering firm retained by Connelly, that found the building stable and not a danger to the public.
There have been three engineering studies. Keohane said the Cowen study had come in late that day and presented him with a problem as it contradicted the one done by the town. “I get confused . . .[with] different reports saying different things about the same building.” Keohane said he knew first hand about collapsing buildings as one of the buildings he owned collapsed. He also said public safety was the priority. (Note – the engineering reports are not yet available.)
Mr. McDonough said that his client was willing to make repairs but that any action was dependent on what the town was going to do with their portion of the building. The town owns the parking lot and the building above it. McDonough argued that Connelly could not properly attend to repairs until the town determined if they were going to take down or repair their section. McDonough said they were filing an appeal with regard to that.
The root cause of the damage is a hole in the roof. However, Prondak and McDonough also disagreed on where the hole was located. Keohane said if the hole was on a portion of the building owned by Connelly he would support condemning the building and having him take it down. If it was on the town owned portion he would not. Keohane recommended getting the two engineers together to come to agreement on the building’s safety and “get it right.”
Town Administrator Mearn advised they follow advice of Prondak and Grant to take the building down. However, Keohane said he was uncomfortable taking a vote without Mr. Hurley present. Sweeney agreed they should wait for Hurley to participate in a vote as he was the one who had been negotiating with Connelly. Sweeney made a motion and the two selectmen voted to postpone the vote until Hurley could be present. The matter is on their agenda for this coming Monday.
Senator Brian A. Joyce appeared before the board and proposed that the town apply for a MassWorks grant. Funds need to be applied to a public benefit. Given that the Connelly’s proposal needs to include public amenities the thought is that MassWorks funding could help offset costs incurred by the developer regarding that portion of the development and result in modifying design to meet some neighborhood concerns. Joyce estimated it would cost between $2500 – 5000 to develop a proposal that could obtain funding of ~$1 million. He was fairly confident that the funding could be obtained and that the town if it acted quickly might hear back as early as October.
Senator Joyce also informed the board that the Massachusetts Senate had authorized $1 million in support of improvements to the deck in East Milton. Joyce explained that 40% of the deck would remain green space and that Representative Manning’s legacy there would be preserved. He said both the Chamber of Commerce and Rep Manning approved. This funding would be in addition to funding already received. Joyce said it would provide necessary support to the commercial tenants in the area. Sweeney welcomed the news saying it “makes a tremendous amount of sense.”
This comes as part of the Senate Transportation Bond bill which also includes the state to transfer some or all of the state highway yard on Granite Avenue to Milton. This could be a commercial development opportunity for the town if that transfer should occur. It also provides tax dollars to enhance Blue Hills Parkway.
Joyce also announced that the state aid that was finally agreed on would provide Milton with ~$280K more that had been projected.