Clarendon gathers opinion on future of historic church

The Universalist Stone Church has been a fixture in Clarendon since 1835. It was dedicated in 1837 and has received plenty of attention having been written up in several history books of the town. The church, because of its age and architectural style, is also eligible to be named to New York's historic register.

The church holds special significance for Gerald and Gloria Mead, as they were the last couple to have been married in the church on September 8, 1973.

"The church holds a lot of memories for us," Gloria said. "I'd like to see it preserved but the added tax burden will hurt the residents."

The Meads were in the audience of close to 30 people who came to discuss the fate of the dilapidated church on December 6 at the Clarendon Town Hall.

Dave Schuble, attorney for Orleans County, came to explain to the attendees at the information meeting that the owner of the building owes about $28,609 in back taxes.

"The owner has until January 31 to pay the back taxes, penalties and interest in order to redeem the property," he said. "After that date, the county will foreclose on the property."

The county, Schuble said, doesn't want to get into the landlord business and likely doesn't want to take ownership of the Universalist church building.

"Some buildings the county doesn't mind taking ownership of, but I don't think we want this one," he said. "The county would probably be favorably disposed to work with the town on their taking ownership of the building."

Schuble mentioned buildings like the old Holley High School as an example of a building the county doesn't want - because of environmental issues with the facility.

"It seems unlikely that the present owner will redeem the building," Schuble said. "Truly, the county has concerns with taking possession of a building in this condition."

Town of Clarendon Supervisor Dick Moy commented on the situation with the town, saying that it took two attempts to get the building's owner, Ramon Martinez, to let county officials and an engineer into the building. The owner is in arrears on the mortgage as well as taxes, according to town officials.

"The bell tower needs repair and there is probably a couple feet of pigeon dug there. You can see the sky in two places where the roof is deteriorating," he said. "There are leaning pillars and a couple of places on the floor where the roof has leaked in that are dangerous."

The owner was living in the building until he was forced to leave because it was deemed uninhabitable. Moy said the town doesn't know where the owner is.

"There is a society in New York, the Sacred Sites Association, that looked at the building with an eye toward refurbishing it but it would have to be used for a church once it's finished," he said.

Lack of parking was raised as an issue if the building was used as a church again. The building could be put on the national historic register and there could be matching grants available for the church's repair and rehabilitation but the building would have to be owned by the town to be eligible to receive the grant funds.

"We'd have to hire an architect and an engineer to get an idea of what it would cost to fix the place up but we were told it could cost at least $150,000 just to fix the roof," Moy said.

An audience member said he "worried about spending taxpayer dollars and said he doesn't know if the money to do that is in the budget. I just don't think you should spend taxpayer dollars on this."

Resident John Kinsey said, "As a farmer we never fed a dead horse, we just buried it. That building is a dead horse."

"I don't want to see the owner redeem the building but still not repair it," resident Mary Isselhard said. "How can we stop that from happening? It's a valuable corner lot and someone might be willing to invest in it."

Members of the Orleans County Historical Society offered tarps to cover the holes in the roof and prevent further damage but because of liability issues, the town is not allowed to put them in place.

Board member E. John DeFilipps said the reason for the meeting was to gauge public opinion on the fate of the building.

"We needed to go to the people and see the positives and negatives," he said. "It could cost the taxpayers money to take ownership of the building but then it would be an asset of the town."

No decisions were made at the information meeting but another option discussed was the demolition of the building.

December 11, 2005