GREENFIELD — The former Zion Korean Church will stand for at least six more months, as the city’s demolition delay bylaw kicked into effect Thursday night following a vote by the Historical Commission to designate it as a “preferably preserved significant building.”

Franklin County’s YMCA is seeking to relocate or demolish the 182-year-old church at 463 Main St., as it looks to expand its playground and create a third preschool classroom for its programs.

Members of the Historical Commission, though, explained Thursday evening’s public hearing was not about the merits of the Y’s project, but rather the building itself, which was built as the Coldbrook Springs Baptist Church in Barre in the 1840s and sits in the East Main/High Street Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. The Greenfield Christian Scientist congregation purchased the Greek revival-style church and moved it to Greenfield in 1936.

“To me, looking at the ordinance, it says, ‘historic and significant,’ so I think the building is historic and significant, both because it’s in the district and because of its history,” said Historical Commission member Tim Blagg. “I think our decision here at this point is not to decide the long-term fate of the building, but to simply say, ‘Does it meet the language of the ordinance?’ … From my point of view, it meets the standard and that’s all we’re here to discuss.”

In Franklin County’s YMCA CEO Grady Vigneau’s presentation, though, he brought forward new information uncovered by Lucy Allen, chair of the Barre Historical Commission, which pushes against the notion that the church hosted abolitionist speakers such as William Lloyd Garrison, a major argument for the church’s historical significance.

In her research, Allen discovered no citations corroborating the original 1953 Greenfield Recorder article that stated the church’s ties to the abolitionist movement. The church, Allen and others have said, was also moved from Barre as part of the Ware River Diversion Project, not the formation of the Quabbin Reservoir, contradicting the National Register for Historic Place’s 1989 nomination letter.

The article in question, published on June 9, 1953, states “William Lloyd Garrison, famous New England abolitionist, often spoke there, and it is reliably reported that anti-slavery societies held regular meetings under its roof in the unsettled times before the Civil War,” according to the Recorder archives. The article also incorrectly reported that it was moved for the Quabbin Reservoir project.

“She could find no citations that corroborated that article, which formed the basis of folks in Greenfield’s belief in the significance of the church,” Vigneau said, noting that the research shows it is “highly unlikely” that those events ever occurred. “I want to just reinforce, our purpose, our goal, is not to destroy the church, but to find a way to relocate it where the history is relevant.”

Historical Commission member Jeremy Ebersole said he trusts the National Register’s nomination because it is a government authority, but it is “not foolproof.” All of that being said, Ebersole still supported preserving the building for at least six more months, giving the YMCA a chance to further its relocation efforts, which have already been extensive.

“The history of abolition activity at the church is a feather in the cap, but, to me, it’s not the only reason … that the building would be historic,” Ebersole said, adding that the church’s age and long-term presence in the Historical District is even more of a reason to consider it. “I can’t say in good faith that removing it would not be detrimental to the architectural and historical heritage of the town.”

Relocation efforts

As Vigneau said, the Y has gone through an extensive process in trying to find a new home for the church. Franklin County’s YMCA reached out to numerous entities and received eight responses. Organizations and groups that responded — of which seven of the eight declined to pursue the building — include Historic Deerfield, the city of Greenfield, the Franklin County Fairgrounds, the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association and Old Sturbridge Village.

The only group that is currently interested, at least publicly, is the Barre Historical Society, which was scheduled to take a private tour of the former Zion Korean Church with YMCA staff on Friday morning.

In the event Franklin County’s YMCA cannot find a group to relocate the church, demolition is its preferred next step forward, as Vigneau said the price tag for rehabilitating and renovating the old church — which needs contaminant abatement, as well as numerous other repairs to bring it up to code — is about $1.5 million. If the Y needed to take on those costs, Vigneau said it would cost about $154,000 a year in debt service, which is a “non-starter.”

He added the YMCA wants to move forward with the project because the completion of a new classroom would serve as a 50% increase in the nonprofit’s ability to meet the region’s child care needs, which is sorely needed in Franklin County.

“Our assessment for that property is to use it for the community’s No. 1 priority for us to address,” Vigneau said, noting that while economic development is the city’s priority, the Y can handle child care.

Additionally, expanding the YMCA’s footprint downtown keeps programs in a convenient location on Main Street and drives the organization’s growth, which then provides services in the community.

“We’ve chosen to stay where we are, we’ve chosen to invest in the property we have, and as we continue to grow, to have that available space adjacent to us gives us sustainability for the long term,” Vigneau said. “The Y will be on Main Street, if we can use that property, a lot longer than I’m going to be around.”

The Historical Commission voted unanimously to designate the former Zion Korean Church as a “preferably preserved significant building,” which invokes the six-month demolition delay. Once that six months is up, the commission can either allow demolition to proceed or it can request City Council to extend the delay another six months, according to the city’s ordinance.

“This has definitely been a good-faith effort,” Historical Commission member Sarah Bolduc said of the YMCA’s research and relocation efforts, adding that the Barre Historical Society’s Friday tour might be a good sign. “I’m personally interested in what happens [on Friday]. It might be the progress we all want.”

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