Dean Bauer confirmed Friday that he resigned from the Historic
Architectural Review Board on Oct. 8, the third member of the
nine-member board to have done so in a three-day period.
A member of HARB for the past seven years, Bauer said Friday
that he had sent his letter of resignation to City Clerk John
Peterson.
At HARB’s Oct. 6 meeting, chairman Mark Luciano, a contractor,
and member Charla Munn, a legal secretary, had tendered their
resignations as well.
At that meeting, Luciano and Munn said there were two factors in
their decisions to resign – the vote to allow demolition of a house
next door to and owned by the Church of the Ascension and also the
continuing situation with Roger Feura’s efforts to demolish the
former Angell’s Entertainment Center near his business, Bradford
Pharmacy. Earlier this year, HARB had denied Feura’s application
for permission to replace the building with a parking lot, saying
the application was incomplete. Feura plans to reapply.
Like Luciano and Munn, Bauer mentioned the Feura situation as a
contributing factor in his own decision to resign.
“I would like to see history preserved, but it becomes very
important at times to come up with the funds to do it,” said Bauer,
whose five-year term was to expire on Jan. 1, 2008. When serving on
committees like HARB, the retired banker said, “You like to think
you’re helping preserve history, but at what cost?
“It’s one of those balancing acts. I’m not a resident of the
city, but trying to reach decisions that can affect the city and
its residents financially,” he said. Bauer lives in Bradford
Township.
In his opinion, Bauer said, “HARB should not be involved at this
stage in the process … trying to make decisions to preserve or not
to preserve” the former Emery Hardware. He said he believes that
the city missed its opportunity to regain ownership of the building
at 45 Main St. when the Downtown Bradford Revitalization Corp.
failed to buy the building back from Christopher and Michelle
Angell.
The legality and timeliness of the transfer of ownership sits at
the heart of a lawsuit filed in McKean County Court of Common Pleas
on Oct. 3 by the DBRC. Defendants are the Angells and Roger
Feura.
The Angells had purchased the building from the DBRC for $20,000
on June 1, 2001, with an agreement that the DBRC would have an
option of first refusal to repurchase the property. The DBRC had
been given the building by Berg Investors of Liverpool, N.Y.
The Angells were in business at the site until fire caused an
estimated $50,000 damage in August 2004. The Angells maintain that
DBRC knew the building had been for sale for eight months prior to
their March 17, 2005, letter to city officials, asking the city to
notify them immediately if the city were going to repurchase the
building.
The suit alleges that in a letter dated the same day, Main
Street Manager and DBRC vice president Diane DeWalt informed the
Angells that the DBRC did wish to exercise its option of first
refusal and would vote on the matter at a March 23 meeting.
On March 22, the Angells then sold the building to Feura for
$1.
The Angells and Feura are being sued for alleged breach of
contract, violation of a deed conditions and violation of the
Pennsylvania Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act. Feura is also being
charged with trespass.
With Bauer’s resignation, the remaining HARB members are graphic
design artist Tom Seagren (whose term expires Jan. 1, 2008);
historian Sally Costik (Jan. 1, 2007); Bradford Fire Chief and
building inspector William McCormack (Jan. 1, 2009); licensed
realtor Gloria Colella (2008); retired architect Ed Smith (2009);
and businessman Greg Nickel (2008). Teri Cannon, secretary to City
Clerk John Peterson, is also secretary of HARB.
City Council appoints members to five-year terms on the
board.
Both Luciano and Munn’s terms were to expire Jan. 1, 2007.
A HARB member Friday explained that under state law, historical
architecture review boards must include a contractor, an architect
and a historian.
