Punta Gorda builder T.J. Thornberry is disputing the city’s Historic Preservation Advisory Board’s decision to deny delisting his client’s heavily damaged home from the Historic Register so it can be rebuilt.
In emails to city officials, he also claims the board violated its own bylaws by not allowing him to speak when the issue was being discussed. At the Dec. 17 meeting, board Chair Lucille Ponte told Thornberry he could only address the issue during the public portion at the top of the meeting.
Ned and Molly Markey hired Thornberry to demolish their home at 111 Chasteen St. to make way for a new one. The home built in 1951 was flooded on numerous occasions and sustained significant damage.
Due to the home’s location in the Historic District, it is not subject to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s mandate that if more than 50% of a structure is damaged it cannot be repaired.
The advisory board maintains that the house is on the National Historic Registry.
Referring to his company, Thornberry said, “It is not our place to tear down anything historic, but we believe in this situation Mother Nature made that decision for us.”
Zoning Official Rachel Barry recommended the house not be delisted, and the board agreed with her in a 3-2 vote. Their recommendation now goes to City Council, which meets in January.
In his email sent to Barry, Interim City Manager Melissa Reichert and Urban Design Director Joan LeBeau, Thornberry wrote: “I was not given the proper opportunity to speak on behalf [as the applicant and agent] of the owners to properly convey all information, ask questions to the HPAB or staff. I believe the HPAB chair violated the bylaws in this regard by only allowing me to speak for three minutes during public comment. I believe per below, the chair discretion for public comment is intended to be outside of the agenda items as it pertains to the ‘applicant.’”
Thornberry attached a section of the bylaws that reads: “The chair shall call each agenda item and briefly describe, or ask a member of the staff to briefly describe, the proposition before the board. If the item under discussion was submitted by an outside person or agency, the applicant or agent for the applicant will be given an opportunity to present his/her position. The board shall be permitted to question the staff and/or the applicant freely, and public comment shall be permitted at the discretion of the chair.”
Thornberry asked Barry, Reichert and LeBeau to explain how it was determined the property was placed on the National Historic Registry. He said the home’s architectural style is not consistent with the requirements for a home to be deemed historic.
“I question what architectural style that is? The house was originally a 1951 masonry home (slab and outer walls). Over the years, the front porch was added as an independent structure, vinyl siding was added to the walls and rooms have been added onto the home. The home, currently as it exists, fits no architectural type as defined by the current LDRs or traditional architecture.”
A home at 703 W. Olympia Ave., built in 1940, is a “conflicting example,” he said. That home was on the list of historic homes, “but Zoning determined that due to vinyl siding, new windows and other improvements, it no longer had any historical status and was delisted.”
Should the city agree with the advisory board and deny delisting 111 Chasteen St. as a historic home, Thornberry and the Markeys could still proceed, but at a cost and the possibility of having to wait anywhere from 45 days to 18 months before work could begin.
The Markeys would have to provide a $1,500 structural engineering study for a deteriorating house that’s about to be demolished and possibly retain an attorney. Meanwhile, the house would deteriorate further over the weeks and possibly months, Thornberry said.
