St. Albans City was recently given the title of “This Old House’s 2013 Best Old House Neighborhood, Northeast.”  But do we really deserve this distinction?

Last night, the City Council refused to participate any further in efforts to reclaim the Owl Club/Smith House, sitting some 200 years on the corner of its historic downtown campus,  from demolition and redevelopment into a cheap clapboard office building that involves major reconfiguration of quiet Maiden Lane in order to accommodate fifteen additional parking spaces.

The City Council thinks it has done “enough;” and from one perspective, it certainly has.  

The Council was responsible for appointing all members of the Development Review Board, who gave their approval for the destruction of the house, which is on the National Register of Historic Properties, despite the fact that the developers of the property had not provided all of the essential documentation that is required under City statutes.

In fact, they allowed the developer’s own engineer, who was engaged specifically to build the office building on that site, to render the opinion that the historic building could not be saved.

Not only did this engineering firm have a conspicuous conflict of interest motivating them to render such an opinion; but they did not even provide the detailed information that is required by law, concerning the costs associated with restoring the building.

But that is not where contamination of the process ends.  The Chairman of the Development Review Board, Meghan Manahan, is the first cousin of the Connor brothers, who were the applicants  seeking a permit from the DRB.

Her brother, former mayor Marty Manahan is the downtown redevelopment “tzar.”  

The ease with which the Connor brothers slid through the permit process must be questioned.

We will persist with our efforts to have the permit vacated; but in light of our limited personal resources, and with no help from the City, our prospects are diminished.  

Make no mistake, environmental court is theoretically accessible to all citizens; but, like elected office, the reality is that it is only as accessible as one has the funds with which to access it.

If the Connors prevail in the appeal process, not only will the historic home of John Smith and J. Gregory Smith be demolished and replaced with an ugly block of clapboard offices; but the entire length of Maiden Lane from the library to Congress Street will be reconfigured for diagonal parking in front of that office building, adding fifteen spaces to that tiny one block lane way.

All of the gently sloping greenspace that currently fronts the historic home will be eliminated to allow for additional parking; and our children and grandchildren will have to compete with diagonal parking as they make their way to and from the library on their bikes and skateboards.

I just thought my neighbors deserve to know that it is our neighborhood…the 2013 Best Old House Neighborhood…that is at stake here.