Bad News for Danvers State Hospital
Chris Cassidy
Salem News
Danvers State sale OK'd, but legal fight lingers
DANVERS - A judge yesterday ruled the sale and demolition of Danvers State Hospital can proceed, but local preservationists vowed to keep fighting.
A group incorporated as the Danvers Preservation Fund accused the state of neglecting historic preservation laws and filed an eleventh-hour lawsuit to block the sale. But yesterday's Salem Superior Court ruling cleared the way for the 77-acre property to be sold to developer AvalonBay.
"We're not giving up yet," said Kathryn Morano, a preservation fund member. "We still have another ace up our sleeve."
So the group will head back to court to try to stop the project, possibly as early as today, said attorney James Gilbert. AvalonBay plans to knock down a portion of the Gothic-style Kirkbride building to make way for housing.
The group wants to block the town building inspector from issuing a demolition permit to AvalonBay, claiming the town violated its own bylaws governing the demolition of historic buildings, Gilbert said.
Specifically, he claims the town manager "bullied" the local preservation commission into hearing AvalonBay's demolition request before it assumed ownership of the property � a violation of a town bylaw, Gilbert alleged. The preservation commission can delay demolition of a historic structure up to six months, he said.
"It was an abuse of the town manager's authority to force the preservation commission to act in a manner (it) knew was illegal," Gilbert said.
Town Manager Wayne Marquis could not be reached for a response yesterday evening.
Attorney Kevin O'Flaherty, representing AvalonBay, deferred comment to Vice President Scott Dale, who did not return a phone message yesterday.
Meanwhile, Gilbert hopes a judge will set a hearing sometime next week.
"We're Massachusetts, not Las Vegas," Gilbert said. "We don't tear down buildings without any thought or consideration of their historic nature.
"This isn't Caesar's Palace. This is a historic building that is entitled to a lot more consideration, both legally and morally, than what it's received."
At its peak, the hospital treated 2,000 patients, even though its official capacity was just 600.
The 130-year-old mental hospital has attracted artists, historians and even ghost hunters fascinated with the architecture and design of the quarter-mile-wide Kirkbride. "Urban explorers," an underground culture of thrill-seekers, have risked arrest by slipping onto the site at night and photographing the building.
It was even the setting for a 2001 horror movie, "Session 9."
But the latest court action to preserve the venerable building won't stop the sale, thanks to yesterday's superior court ruling.
The decision was a major victory for the parties involved in the sale. The state and AvalonBay had hoped to finalize the deal last month.
Earlier in the day, Marquis called the ruling "good news" and hoped it would move the project forward. Kevin Flanigan, a spokesman for the state Division of Capital Asset Management, called yesterday's ruling "a very positive development."
He said he didn't know when the sale will be finalized.
DANVERS - A judge yesterday ruled the sale and demolition of Danvers State Hospital can proceed, but local preservationists vowed to keep fighting.
A group incorporated as the Danvers Preservation Fund accused the state of neglecting historic preservation laws and filed an eleventh-hour lawsuit to block the sale. But yesterday's Salem Superior Court ruling cleared the way for the 77-acre property to be sold to developer AvalonBay.
"We're not giving up yet," said Kathryn Morano, a preservation fund member. "We still have another ace up our sleeve."
So the group will head back to court to try to stop the project, possibly as early as today, said attorney James Gilbert. AvalonBay plans to knock down a portion of the Gothic-style Kirkbride building to make way for housing.
The group wants to block the town building inspector from issuing a demolition permit to AvalonBay, claiming the town violated its own bylaws governing the demolition of historic buildings, Gilbert said.
Specifically, he claims the town manager "bullied" the local preservation commission into hearing AvalonBay's demolition request before it assumed ownership of the property � a violation of a town bylaw, Gilbert alleged. The preservation commission can delay demolition of a historic structure up to six months, he said.
"It was an abuse of the town manager's authority to force the preservation commission to act in a manner (it) knew was illegal," Gilbert said.
Town Manager Wayne Marquis could not be reached for a response yesterday evening.
Attorney Kevin O'Flaherty, representing AvalonBay, deferred comment to Vice President Scott Dale, who did not return a phone message yesterday.
Meanwhile, Gilbert hopes a judge will set a hearing sometime next week.
"We're Massachusetts, not Las Vegas," Gilbert said. "We don't tear down buildings without any thought or consideration of their historic nature.
"This isn't Caesar's Palace. This is a historic building that is entitled to a lot more consideration, both legally and morally, than what it's received."
At its peak, the hospital treated 2,000 patients, even though its official capacity was just 600.
The 130-year-old mental hospital has attracted artists, historians and even ghost hunters fascinated with the architecture and design of the quarter-mile-wide Kirkbride. "Urban explorers," an underground culture of thrill-seekers, have risked arrest by slipping onto the site at night and photographing the building.
It was even the setting for a 2001 horror movie, "Session 9."
But the latest court action to preserve the venerable building won't stop the sale, thanks to yesterday's superior court ruling.
The decision was a major victory for the parties involved in the sale. The state and AvalonBay had hoped to finalize the deal last month.
Earlier in the day, Marquis called the ruling "good news" and hoped it would move the project forward. Kevin Flanigan, a spokesman for the state Division of Capital Asset Management, called yesterday's ruling "a very positive development."
He said he didn't know when the sale will be finalized.
This article was
written by Chris Cassidy
and published by Salem News
on Wednesday, November 9