Harding renovation draws Michigan letter

Former Woodstock resident Esther Hall Gordon wrote from Michigan about the City Council's agenda item for March 2 to re-vote on the window on the renovated building at 223 South Tryon Street. She also weighed in on the City Council's failure to retrieve the Grace Hall landmark nomination from under the table and make a decision about it. Esther, thanks for writing!

"Last Friday morning, after glancing through all of my usual media contacts, I noted the upcoming agenda of the 03.02.10 Woodstock City Council meeting, as posted on the city's web site. I recalled having read the Harding story, as posted on The Woodstock Independent's web site just a couple of days prior, and which highlighted the concerns of Woodstock's City Council and the Historical Preservation Commission relative to a replacement window installed in a private home located in the historical district of Woodstock, but which, apparently did not meet the city's code for a home built during this particular time period

"In today's Woodstock Advocate, the picture of the window replacement in question does reveal a rather noticeable disparity between the width of the transom and that of the double window replacement installed below it by the home's two owners. If my understanding of Woodstock City Council and its Historical Preservation Commission's recommendation to Mr. Harding is correct, i.e., that he remove the double-pane window and replace it with a single pane window, while keeping its width as close as possible to, or exactly the same width as the transom, I wholeheartedly support the HPC and the city council's decision.

"Oddly enough, however, Woodstock's City Council has decided not to "stick to their guns," and has decided to cast a re-vote during this Tuesday's regularly scheduled city council meeting, when all of its members are present. Given the absence of two members during the initial vote on this issue by the city council, and now that a re-vote has been decided upon, I will closely follow the outcome to see whether the presence of the two absent council members and their vote produces a result in Mr. Harding's favor. The city's decision to conduct a second vote following an appeal from Mr. Harding, who currently owns the home and personally completed the window replacement project, along with the assistance of another contractor, is a fairly novel way of conducting municipal business.

"Given the "shoddy" manner in which Woodstock's City Council arrived at a "majority" vote, and, thereby, totally negated untold hours of work carried out by Woodstock's own Historical Preservation Commission, which nominated Grace Hall, aka Harrison House, as an historical preservation site, and demonstrated that it more than adequately satisfies all state and local requirements for same, and, thus, certainly a project deemed worthy of continued efforts on behalf of the HPC and the City of Woodstock relative to exploration of adaptable re-use of this historical building, which, unfortunately, is currently owned by the Woodstock Christian Life Services enterprise, I'll also be watching to see whether the City Council will soon re-open the "flood gates" with regard to further action on the nomination of Grace Hall, aka Harrison House, for historical preservation AND adaptable re-use.

"In an effort to learn when the City Council intends to "un-table" that "stalled in the water" tactic employed earlier in 2009 as "a smoke and mirrors game" in order to circumvent the HPC's nomination for historical preservation, in good faith, I contacted the Woodstock City Manager's Office back in mid November of 2009 prior to the holiday season. At that time, it was conveyed to me in no uncertain terms, and I paraphrase loosely, that "Grace Hall is a dead issue." When did it die? Who killed it? Or, after being “tabled,” last year, did it just get swept under the table?

"With regard to the Harding case, again, one can only begin to wonder how the decision to re-visit and re-vote on it came about, and by whom. If the city council is flexible enough to take another look at a single, double-pane window, it seems reasonable to expect that they have enough flexibility to initiate a “super-majority” re-vote in the matter of Grace Hall, aka Harrison House, after it is “un-tabled” by Woodstock’s City Council, and a frank discussion is held relative to how the current CEO of Woodstock Christian Life Services, Mr. Terrence Egan, and the current board of financiers of “Woodstock’s oldest human services organization” - and soon to become its largest “faith-based commercial enterprise” – have failed to meet ALL criterion, as previously set forth by Woodstock’s City Council. As I recall, that one un-met criterion happens to be Criterion D, i.e., that any and all viable adaptable re-use proposals will be “fully explored,” which I envision as a fairly exhaustive process, and not the “quick and dirty” method which has been employed up to now by WCLS, so they can demolish the building and be done with it.

"Given Grace Hall’s, aka Harrison Houses’ state and nationwide notoriety in connection with The Todd School for Boy, not to mention its association with the late great playwright and actor, Orson Welles, in my opinion, Grace Hall, aka Harrison House, sits at the top of a list of probably only five other nationally recognized historic landmarks in Woodstock.

"The manner by which Woodstock's City Council arrives at decisions, or decides to eliminate any further discussion of a proposal by placing the issue on the proverbial table, but - as with the Harding case - arbitrarily revisits it, is - to say the least - intriguing. I'll be watching to see the outcome of the council's second vote, as a result of Mr. Harding's appeal. In light of the inaction of the WCC and the HPC relative to Grace Hall, and their purported decision to "cave in" to a "faith-based commercial enterprise," I'd be flabbergasted if the re-vote by the city council members did not weigh in on the side of Mr. Harding. I'm hopeful it does!”