The LDS Church commissioned Beca Report 2003 and EL Byder

INTERNET REFERENCE:
http://www.slideshare.net/kiakaha/2003-beca-structural-engineering-report-

• CCNZ buildings are less critical of major maintenance than NZ Temple and Foster Rd Meetinghouse
• There is no record of over the past 150 yrs of European history of a major earthquake occurring in Hamilton that would cause significant damage to the buildings
• The probable extent of liquefaction and associated foundation settlement during earthquake is unlikely to be the primary cause of significant distress to the buildings

INTERNET REFERENCE:
http://www.slideshare.net/kiakaha/church-college-of-new-zealand-july-2009-engineering-report

EL Bydder (Phd, MSc, Ceng, FNZIPP, MIEE, Chartered Engineer)

"I must congratulate the designers of this building and the personnel involved in it construction. They have clearly done a magnificent job and it appears that ther was an expectation that the building would become an iconic structure on the landscape of NZ".

LDS Church Demolition Vehemently Opposed – November 18, 2011

LDS Church Demolition Vehemently Opposed – November 18, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011

A joint visit by the Historic and Design Review Committee and Historic Landmarks Committee to the neglected LDS Meeting House was featured in the "Hellholes of Arcata" series in the July 21, 2010 edition.
 Note: Those wishing for more raw data and back story on the LDS Meeting House issues can find it here. – Ed.

Kevin L. Hoover
Eye Editor

A STREET – The City will approve a building permit for demolition of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) Meeting House on A Street, the Planning Commission was told last week.

The LDS Church hasn’t used the moldy building since the 1980s 2004 and has wished to tear it down since 2001, when it first applied for a demolition permit. The church has said that it doesn’t need the building and that repairs necessary to restore it to safe use would be prohibitively expensive.

Opinions varied as to whether the building was sufficiently distinguished historically or architecturally to merit preservation. The LDS Church said it was nothing special, but local historians and preservationists disagreed.


The LDS Meeting House. Photos by KLH | Eye
But all of that became irrelevant Oct. 28, when the LDS church withdrew its previous demolition permit and submitted a non-discretionary or “ministerial” permit application which removes the demolition debate from City review. The basis for the non-discretionary status is California Government Code Section 37361, which exempts buildings owned by religious institutions from being designated historical, which would protect the building under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

That immunity from historical designation renders moot a ruling by the Historic Design Review Commission (HDRC). It had recommended the City Council designate the LDS Meeting Hall a local historic landmark and that the Planning Commission deny the previously discretionary permit.

In a staff report for last week’s Planco meeting Community Development Director Larry Oetker said that his department and the City Attorney have reviewed the new application and the law cited by the LDS Church to exempt it from discretionary review, and confirmed that it does apply. Hence the Planco agenda item was informational only.

This decision did not sit well with local historic preservationists, who immediately contested the applicability of the law.

Citizen Lisa Brown called the decision “very troubling,” and said that the demolition could set a bad precedent whereby those wishing to demolish buildings could “skirt public process.”

Brown contended that the project hadn’t changed, just the bureaucratic process that would make it possible. “The neighbors are being shut out,” she said. “If there are environmental impacts to the community, then the community needs to be involved as per CEQA.”

She asked that granting of the demolition permit be delayed until the State Historic preservation Office could make a ruling on an application to list the building as a State Historic Landmark. The church has objected to the proposed designation, and Oetker said that it is irrelevant.

Brown also suggested that the Planning Commission appeal the demolition permit so that the matter could be considered by the City Council with public testimony “to create balance that is representative of our community.”

“I have been watching for many years, and I have never seen anything as absurd as this,” Brown concluded.

Historic consultant Kathleen Stanton also objected to the demolition recommendation, calling it “very, very troubling.” She said that there are un-considered environmental consequences to the demolition.

Stanton said that all demolition permits in Arcata are discretionary.  She didn’t understand why a building permit was being issued to un-build a building. “That doesn’t make sense to me,” she said.

She also said that the church’s opposition doesn’t invalidate a protective historic designation.

“That’s a fallacy that the City is working from,” she said.

On Nov. 11, the Brandt-Hawley Law Group of Glen Ellen, Calif. submitted a letter to Oetker on behalf of a group known as the Friends of the LDS Meetinghouse.


The letter announces an intent to appeal the City’s decision to grant the demolition permit on grounds that “the approval violates the California Environmental Quality Act and the Arcata Municipal Code, and is inconsistent with the General Plan.”

The letter, signed by attorney Susan Brandt-Hawley, contests the exemption on several grounds.

It states that in order to qualify for the religious exemption, the LDS Church must determine in a public forum that preventing it from demolishing the building would cause economic hardship.

“The Church has not provided a current documented claim of hardship and cannot claim the protections of 37361 until it does so,” states the letter.

Another of the Friends’ group’s objections is that the demolition permit is just a small part of a larger project which the church is “segmenting” to gain piecemeal approval, depriving the City of a review of the overall project.

The letter cites CEQA law stating that “the whole of an action, which has the potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.”

“Demolition of a building is never the entire project

; it is the first step to new development,” the letter continues. “The LDS Church intends to remove asphalt and significantly grade and re-landscape its site if a demolition permit is granted, as a precursor to sale for a six-lot housing project. Every reasonable indication is that if it is allowed to demolish the historic Meetinghouse it will then return to the City for the additional project permits it originally requested, beginning with the long-pursued grading.”

The Friends also contend that removal of the building could cause environmental impacts related to drainage, plus traffic and other unforeseen consequences.

Concludes the letter, “This appeal will be supplemented with additional evidence and argument at the Planning Commission and City Council. The building permit must be set aside and the entire LDS Meetinghouse site project must be subjected to CEQA review. The application of Government Code section 37361 has not been justified under these facts. Additional information may be brought forward by the Friends up until the close of the public hearing preceding final project approval at the City Council.

The letter was forwarded by former HDRC member Marc Delany, who said the Friends of the LDS Meetinghouse meets mostly via e-mail. He can be reached at mldelany@gmail.com.

INTERNET REFERENCE:
http://www.arcataeye.com/2011/11/lds-church-demolition-vehemently-opposed-%E2%80%93-november-18-2011/

Proposed demolition of 19th-century home back in village's lap (June 12, 2013)

INTERNET REFERENCE: http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20130612/COMMUNITIES02/306120011?gcheck=1

Gill Wright Miller is hoping her research documenting the historical value of a 175-year-old house on the village’s east side — and her plan to buy and restore it — will be sufficient to forestall a request to tear it down.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns the building, located to the rear of the church at
2486 Newark-Granville Road. It is asking the village for permission to demolish it.

The structure is in poor condition after years of neglect, but is structurally sound, according to Miller. The church sees it as a liability and safety problem; Miller says it has become an attractive nuisance to local teens.

Miller has offered to buy the four acres on which the unoccupied home is located for $7,000 per acre. The church is weighing the offer and has not responded. Miller says she is willing to pay the estimated $75,000 cost of renovating the home in order to sell it, most likely as a private residence.

At its meeting Wednesday, Village Council will consider the request after holding a public hearing.

“My request is to deny the request to demolish it,” Miller said in a phone message to the Sentinel. “It is still salvageable. It needs to be preserved as part of the history of Granville.”

Gordon H. Jeffery, facility manager for the church, said he has forwarded Miller’s request to church higher-ups. He said the church is considering whether to split the four acres off the rest of the property and sell it, which would make Miller’s acquisition of the home conceivable. Jeffery said safety and liability issues concerning the home are a major concern.

“We are asking for the demolition in order to be prepared budget-wise, but that in no way indicates the direction the church may go,” he said. Jeffery said he doesn’t expect the church to have an answer to Miller’s offer by Wednesday’s meeting.

Miller is related to William Spencer Wright Sr., who along with his father built the house, according to the Granville Historical Society. Teresa Overholser, head archivist for the historical society, says the home was built in the 1820s or early 1830s; Miller says her research points to a slightly later date, 1838.

Miller has extensively documented the history of the home, which she says is a token of the presence of Wright and his second wife, Samantha Stedman, early settlers of Granville who were “part of the fabric of (its) history and Ohio’s great farm tradition,” she said in a document she provided the village.

Wright settled in Granville when he was two years old and became a leader of the farming industry and an active local citizen, Miller said. She said the house is among the oldest brick farmhouses in the area.

An effort is also underway to place the home on the National Register of Historic Places. Ashlin Caravana, who has been helping with the effort, said the research has been done, but an application hasn’t been filed.

The historical society determined the home doesn’t have historic value. But Overholser said its ruling doesn’t mean there is no value in preserving the structure.

This past winter, the council agreed to postpone a decision on the church’s demolition request to allow Miller time to find a way to preserve it.

Vice Mayor Constance Barsky said she is withholding judgment on whether to vote for demolition until she hears from all parties at Wednesday’s meeting.

Old Photos

Hamilton City Council Proposed District Plan Submissions 2013 (Round one)

INTERNET REFERENCE:

http://www.hamilton.co.nz/PDPSubmissions2013/PDPSubmissions2013.pdf

Audience Statistics for Legacy Temple View Blog

Landfill remediation and contamination works

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Trust Board

Landfill remediation and contamination works

Temple View

April – June 2013

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Trust Board (the Trust Board) has obtained resource consent to remediate the former Temple View landfill located on the eastern boundary of the former school site.  In addition, two Underground Storage Tanks (USTs) are proposed to be removed and near surface soils in the vicinity of the former Automotive workshops containing elevated metals will also be excavated.  Consents have been obtained from Hamilton City Council, Waipa District Council and the Waikato Regional Council to undertake these works.

The contract to undertake the works has been let to Schick Construction & Cartage Hamilton and Schick plans to begin site set up works such as fencing during the week commencing 8^th April 2013.  Earthworks are expected to start on Tuesday 16^th April 2013 and the total contract is expected to take about ten weeks however this is dependent on weather conditions. 

A plan of the former Church College site is attached which shows the extent of remediation works associated with this specific contract (noted as Stage 1), and the contractors access route through the site.  This plan also identifies the approximate extent of the remediation activities.  The removal of UST 7 and UST 8 as shown on the attached plan will not involve any work on the former Automotive workshop itself as consents are required from Hamilton City Council before this building can be removed. 

The landfill works will involve digging through the former landfill site and sorting the material that is excavated.  Material that is verified as being contaminated will be trucked off site to the Hampton Downs landfill near Meremere in the North Waikato.  Material that is verified as suitable for reuse  will be placed back in the ground and compacted.  The sorting process will be overseen by a Contaminated Land Specialist from Tonkin and Taylor in Hamilton who will undertake verification testing of the materials that are to remain to ensure they meet the appropriate standards.  Excavated soil in the vicinity of the former Automotive workshop will be removed and taken to Hampton Downs Landfill as well.  All verification testing results will then be sent to Hamilton City Council, Waipa District Council and Waikato Regional Council staff. 

Please contact Mr Cameron Inder, Engineer to the Contract on 07 838 0144 if you have any questions in relation to this project.

Encl:

Drawing 61344.004 – Site Layout Plan by Tonkin & Taylor