Despite the withdrawal of a demolition plan, the fate of St. Mary's Church in Pittsfield remains murky.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — News of a possible reprieve for the former St. Mary the Morning Star Church caused a stir of reactions on Monday, but details remain opaque about the suggestion that the 72-year-old church building could potentially be donated to the city.

 

According to a press release sent out to local media by a publicist on behalf of Cafua Management Co., the Dunkin' Donuts franchisee is preparing a revised proposal for the Tyler Street property, which would maintain the main church building.

 

In this new proposal, which would presumably still involve the demolition of an adjacent rectory and potentially other structures on the 2.6-acre parcel, Cafua says the iconic former house of worship would be donated "to the City of Pittsfield, for use as the city deems appropriate."

 

"Our next step is to meet with the City Planner, present the plan to the public and pursue city approvals," said Gregory Nolan, chief development officer for Cafua, in Monday's statement. "The process will take time, but our aim is to ultimately do right by the community."

 

In fact, representatives from Cafua had already met with City Planner Cornelius J. Hoss just prior to the media announcement, though no discussion of the possibility of donating the church took place at that time.

 

"We met [Monday] to discuss their options, and after that discussion, they made the decision that it would be best to withdraw their plans for now, until they've had a chance to explore their options for the property," Hoss said.

 

At this time, the only official communication from the developer to city hall has been to withdraw their current site plan application.  

 

"No one has reached out to me at all," said Mayor Daniel Bianchi, of the possibility of donating the church to the city.

 

According to Cafua, though, the topic was already been broached with the city at Monday's meeting.

 

"We discussed donating the church with the city planner and other officials but no further plans have been made," contended Nolan, when reached for comment on Tuesday.  

 

"There will need to be some follow-up meetings before we present the plan to the public then we will work closely with the city for approvals. The process could take months," Nolan told iBerkshires.

 

The concept of Cafua's purchase of, and subsequent donation to the city, is a complicated one.

 

"We don't know the implications," Bianchi told iBerkshires on Tuesday. "We don't know that building that well, or what kind of liabilities might accrue to that property."

 

While Bianchi said the idea of a collaborative effort might be possible, it would be "a very poor move, on the part of the city" to take on the property alone.

 

"That would be an incredible burden on the taxpayers, just to absorb it," said the mayor.

 

"We would have to have a business plan that made sense," he added. "Logically, for the city, we would like to partner with an organization or a developer that wanted to do something. We would have to have a well-thought-out proposal.

 

"Obviously, the church has got a lot of problems. For them to knock it down, and remediate the land, would be a very, very costly thing. ... They're being smart businessmen, by trying to transfer the liability from the church to someone else."

 

Despite concerns, the mayor said he remains open to hearing from the developer on a revised proposal.

 

"I certainly am curious and anxious to hear what they have to say, and how creative and collaborative they're willing to be," Bianchi concluded. "Maybe we will find a developer with a really creative idea on how to reuse that building for a unique purpose."

 

Meanwhile, a planned public hearing before the city's Historical Commission on Oct. 7 has been canceled. In light of the application's withdrawal, and in the absence of any clear proposal at this time, the commission will defer on the issue for now, though it may be taken up again at the next regularly scheduled meeting in November.

 

"At that point, maybe there will be some more information, so that they can have more of a substantive discussion about how they can participate in the process," Hoss said.

 

While the commission would have no binding authority on the church property, which is too young to qualify for its review under the city's demolition delay ordinance, its members expressed keen interest in providing a forum to hear from concerned citizens, who in recent weeks have lobbied hard against the proposal, through petition, boycott efforts and hundreds of phone calls to both Cafua and the Springfield Diocese.

 

"The collective feedback from the residents of Pittsfield lead us to revise our plan," said Nolan. "We have and always will continue to listen to the needs and wants of the community and aim to do what's right."

 

"I'm so proud of the Pittsfield residents who really spoke from the heart," Bianchi said of the level of public action.