Demolition application for former Zion Korean Church in Greenfield rejected

The demolition permit application for the former Zion Korean Church, pictured at 463 Main St. in Greenfield, was rejected by the city’s building commissioner this week due to the application’s incomplete status.

The demolition permit application for the former Zion Korean Church, pictured at 463 Main St. in Greenfield, was rejected by the city’s building commissioner this week due to the application’s incomplete status. STAFF FILE PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

By CHRIS LARABEE

Staff Writer

Published: 10-04-2024 4:37 PM

GREENFIELD — The demolition permit application for the former Zion Korean Church was rejected by the city’s building commissioner this week due to the application’s incomplete status.

In an Oct. 3 letter sent to Western Mass Demolition Corporation, which filed the permit to demolish the church owned by Franklin County’s YMCA, Building Commissioner Mark Snow said the city must deny the application because it was incomplete.

“On Sept. 30, 2024 this office received by mail an application to demolish any building. While office staff was reviewing the application, they found the permit application incomplete,” Snow wrote. (“Application to demolish any building” is how the city’s forms are titled.) “As a result of this incomplete permit application and construction document submission, this office must deny this permit application submission as submitted.”

Franklin County’s YMCA acquired the church at 463 Main St. in spring 2023 through the help of an anonymous donor and has been determining whether to demolish the structure to make room for program space or renovate the building to bring it up to code. Grady Vigneau, CEO of Franklin County’s YMCA, said Thursday evening during a Historical Commission meeting that the application “will be completed.” No expected timeline was given and attempts to reach Vigneau on Friday were unsuccessful.

The submitted application was denied for five reasons: Sections 5, 6, 9 and 10 were not filled out and there were no photos of the 182-year-old church included.

On the city’s demolition application, Section 5 asks for a brief description of the proposed work, Section 6 asks for the building height and area, Section 9 regards permit fees, and Section 10 involves notification of utilities and public safety departments. The permit did state “demolition and disposal of entire structure” in Section 5, but did not provide any further description.

The denial of the permit was discussed at Thursday’s Historical Commission meeting. The commission will schedule a future public hearing because the city’s demolition delay ordinance would go into effect once a permit is approved. Snow’s letter was given to the commission about 45 minutes before the meeting.

“Once that application goes through, as you know, because of the historical status of the church, this commission has deemed it necessary to have a public hearing to discuss that demolition delay ordinance,” said Historical Commission Chair John Passiglia. “Once the application is accepted … it will come to us and then we’ll have to go from there.”

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According to records from the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System — a database featuring information on historic properties — the Zion Korean Church was built as the Coldbrook Springs Baptist Church in Barre in the 1840s. The church, which records indicate was, until recently, Greenfield’s oldest church still in use, had to be either demolished or moved to make room for the Quabbin Reservoir’s construction. The Greenfield Christian Scientist congregation purchased the Greek revival-style church and moved it to Greenfield in 1936.

Greenfield’s demolition delay bylaw allows the Historical Commission to hold a public hearing when a demolition permit application is submitted for a “significant building.” If the commission determines the demolition of a building would be “detrimental to the historical or architectural heritage” of the city, it can place a six-month delay on the demolition while the owner makes “bona fide and reasonable efforts to locate a purchaser to preserve, rehabilitate or restore the subject building,” the ordinance states.

Commission member Margo Jones said Snow will inform them when the application is accepted and from there, the Historical Commission will have 45 days to set a public hearing under the demolition delay ordinance.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.