Editor’s note: This letter was sent to the Central Business Architecture Committee from the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association.
At its March 9 meeting, our board of directors voted to reach out to your committee to express our opinion of O’Connell’s recent proposal to demolish the historic St. John Cantius Church located in Ward 3.
Our board overwhelmingly encourages this committee to require O’Connell Development Group to conduct due diligence on its promise to our community in October 2019 to attempt to repurpose this historic monument to the Polish community in Ward 3 and the Pioneer Valley.
Making the right decision costs money and time. The Ward 3 Neighborhood Association knows that. But a decision to allow this iconic building to be demolished would irrevocably change our ward, a loss that would last forever, and one that will not be repaired with the construction of more townhouses.
That is why the Ward 3 Association’s board of directors is calling for the Northampton Central Business Architecture Committee to delay, if not ultimately reject, the request of O’Connell to demolish the 120-year-old church building.
St. John Cantius sits at the beating heart of Ward 3, reminding some of us of our ancestors who built it, and the rest of us that while this city grows, it does not forget its past. The church structure, while built by Catholic immigrants, has a reach beyond faith. We are all attracted to its beauty, its history, its inherent message that this community — our Ward 3 — will remain standing.
We implore the Northampton citizens sitting on the Central Business Architecture Committee, and O’Connell Development Group, to delay demolition, so others in the community can find a solution that our neighborhood can embrace — not grieve.
We believe that O’Connell Development Group should not be allowed to raze the church, because its plans do not satisfy the simple stipulations put forward at last month’s CBA Committee meeting by Carolyn Misch, the city’s assistant director of Planning and Sustainability. O’Connell made a poor showing at the recent CBA meeting on Feb. 22 of such research into other options besides demolition; many individuals in attendance asked if O’Connell had investigated such options as historic tax credits. The answer was, “We have not looked into that.”
The Holyoke developers did not adequately establish that it pursued all avenues for repurposing the church, rendering it unusable, nor did it prove with its anecdotal evidence that the structure was functionally obsolete and too costly to repair. Again, we realize making the right decision costs money, but O’Connell Development Group will, in effect, make our community pay for ages if it razes a building that many of us used for worship, and all of us continue to cherish.
Several of the association’s directors were present at the Feb. 22 meeting and believe that the case for demolition made by the O’Connell Group fell far short of convincing us that we should accept losing an iconic building. The presentation was inadequate in both its lack of data and the underwhelming alternative of five townhouses to replace an historic church.
We are calling on the CBA Committee to insist upon a thorough examination of alternatives to demolishing the St. John Cantius Church.
The Ward 3 Neighborhood Association meets monthly.