Staff invokes emergency review after storm damage at 1007 Rhode Island; demolition planned

Historic Resources Office staff told the Historic Resources Commission on July 17 that a storm-related tree fall collapsed a wall at 1007 Rhode Island Street, rendering the structure hazardous and prompting an emergency state-law review and invocation of the emergency clause in Chapter 22. No commission action was required because staff used the emergency authority.

"It had a tree fall on it from the storm last night that made one whole wall of the structure collapse. It is very dangerous, and so that is why you are seeing that information so that you know the reasons that staff invoked that emergency clause," Lynn Braddock Zollner said. Zollner said staff and State Historic Preservation Office reviewers concluded the structure could not be rehabilitated and is being removed for public safety.

Staff indicated a replacement structure application is expected to come before the commission at a future meeting. The commission received the informational report; no formal vote or certificate was issued at this meeting because the emergency procedure authorized staff action.

Provenance: Staff briefing to the commission appears in the miscellaneous section of the transcript; emergency invocation and rationale documented by Historic Resources Office.