Sat in on the Preservation Commission's Certificate of Appropriateness Committee meeting (geez, that's a long name) this afternoon. I was right, the sole topic was the Stotlar House. Basicallythe meeting boiled down to, here's some information about resources available if Home Rentals chooses to restore the house, please don't tear it down, but there's really not anything we can do to stop you if you do.
The Home Rentals representative (I think he is the construction manager but didn't catch his name), was sympathetic to the committee's requests but said he estimated that, due to vandalism (apparently all wiring and metal plumbing has been ripped out of the house, which is what happens when the entire rear end of your building is left wide open to the elements), it would cost approximately $200,000 to rehab the building or about the same as it would cost to demolish the building and replace it with one that was architecturally similar to those in the surrounding neighborhood.
The committee pointed out that rebuilding the property would automatically give it the current special uses status it has, while demolition and rebuilding would require the building to either conform to the commercial status the area is zoned for or for Home Rentals to re-apply for a special uses exemption.
The Home Retails rep did say they did not plan to bring in demolition equiptment as soon as the moratorium expires on March 1 and they would meet with planner Meagan Jones next week to further discuss the committee's recommendations
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