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The other standard is the standard adopted as far as the, in our Historic Plan for the county, to provide
<br />guidance for what is appropriate. Although they are not the specific_ standard applicable to this
<br />building, they are, they should provide guidance, and they are the ones in part that Attorney
<br />Peddycord alluded to. I'll read them. "Demolition of an historic landmark or significant building in
<br />an historic district is disfavored and requires a Certificate of Appropriateness. Such a Certificate of
<br />Appropriateness shall be granted only if the owner demonstrated by submission of substantial,
<br />competent evidence that:
<br />a.) The property in its current condition is uneconomical or in a substantial state of disrepair,
<br />deterioration or structural instability not created by the owner;
<br />b.) Historically appropriate renovation or rehabilitation is either technically or economically
<br />impractical, and
<br />c.) The owner has investigated and considered all reasonable alternatives to demolition, not
<br />simply the least expensive alternative, and that all such alternatives such as: sale, rental, or
<br />lease of the property, have failed or with reasonable likelihood will fail, or will not earn a fair
<br />economic return on value.
<br />It is my understanding that you wish to proceed today with this petition to the Commission?
<br />John Peddycord: Yes, yes.
<br />Shawn Peterson: At this point the Chair will open it to the testimony offered by staff or counsel and
<br />they will open it to the public thereafter and they will have an opportunity to question everyone
<br />involved as far as which, any questions the Commission may have. And there has been submitted in a
<br />part of the staff report [Exhibit 10] a report from Bob Yapp. [Exhibit 9]. Is Bob Yapp present? Mr.
<br />Yapp if you could come to where you are able to on the record, and we would just like you to be
<br />again available for questions during that portion. Mr. Yapp, if you could state your name...?
<br />Bob Yapp: Bob Yapp. I'm a Community Preservation Specialist with HLFI. I'm President of a
<br />national consulting corporation called Preservation Resources, Inc., and a historic property
<br />developer... Actually, I was asked, in my position as with HLFI as Community Preservation
<br />Specialist I'm contracted to the Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend and Saint Joseph
<br />County as an advisor and spend quite a bit of time out in the field looking over buildings, we get
<br />demolition requests, C of A requests for specialty things, specifically in regard to renovation and
<br />rehab costs.
<br />I had a chance to go through Alderwoods' building condition study and I also had an opportunity to
<br />go through the building from top to bottom and quite frankly, I was appalled at this study. And the
<br />reason that I am appalled by it, is that I have never seen such phonyed-up numbers in my life, and I
<br />apologize if I am using words that seem extraordinary, but in all my thirty-one years and over 150
<br />historic structures that I have been involved in the adaptive reuse of, from traveling all over America,
<br />producing a national PBS television show, and seeing projects all over, I have never seen more
<br />outrageous numbers in my life. I didn't want that to happen, but I'm going to give you some
<br />examples of what I'm talking about.
<br />For instance, rough carpentry — $200,000 — now, if you gutted that property and you paid more than
<br />$30,000 to have all the rough carpentry done, you'd be getting ripped off and that's based on every
<br />single book, every single book that addresses national cost, national trends or what have you.
<br />Let's talk about the roof for a second. It's interesting to me, there are about, at the extreme and I
<br />didn't get a chance to get up and measure every square on the roof but assuming there are 50 squares.
<br />A square is 10 feet by 10 feet. On that roof and assuming, you have to take that roof off and replace it
<br />and in my opinion you do not, their numbers at $180,000 come out to be $3,600 per square. Now,
<br />23 January 2006 HPC Meeting Minutes [Corrected Version]
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