The top of the spire is in a pile on the church lawn. A new city commission is hoping to declare the area a historic district to limit what can go there.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Efforts begun nearly three years ago to save St. Francis of Assisi Church may have come to naught, but the new Local Historic District Commission Committee is hoping to prevent anything unworthy from taking its place.

"I started this effort three years ago to save St. Francis by creating a historic district to prevent it from being demolished," said Chairman Kurt Kolok. "Obviously, we're a little late for that."

The former Catholic church, the oldest in the city, fell prey to neglect and water damage a month ago and an emergency demolition was declared to remove the landmark steeple. Closed since the beginning of 2009, interest in its future was sparked when a chain drugstore was proposed to replace the historic structure.

Kolok had been one of the advocates early on of the "Save Our Steeples" efforts but plans for the building never came to fruition. Now, he is hoping the long-awaited commission will be able salvage one of the city's main gateways.

"I hopeful that by creating a local historic district [at Union and Eagle intersection], we will have some say in what goes in its place," he told the commission at its inaugural meeting on Wednesday night.

Commissioners Paul W. Marino, Emily Schiavoni, Frances Buckley, Josh Cullen and Kolok spent the meeting prioritizing their next steps in getting the commission operating and reviewing the state-supplied guide. Once established, their next goal is to meet with Chris Skelly, director of local government programs for the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

However, much of the talk on Wednesday was about how commission might prevent the loss of its historic buildings, with St. Francis as the starting point.

Marino, a local historian and member of the Historic Commission, said city government has already has some sway over facades.

"The mayor can exert a good deal of influence," he said, pointing to the pressure put on Walmart to change its facade. "I think our mayor could the same with CVS."

Kolok said the Local Historic District Committee would work with the City Council and other boards on zoning and other regulations.

"By creating a local historic district you have more teeth ... if the property owner pushes back, you can say we have state law," he said. "The Local Historical District Committee actually has the ability to determine the exterior changes to any structure within the local historic district."

He anticipated things could happen pretty quickly since the Historical Commission has done a lot of asset work on historic structures. A district could be any size depending on the number of buildings it included.

"You can have nonconforming districts with non-historic buildings like on Eagle Street," said Colon, a member of the North Adams Historical Society. "Or do it as a single structure."

Buckley, a real estate agent and former city councilor, said she was disappointed that Eagle Street had been named by the National Historic Register only to have two buildings torn down to make way for a bank.

The designation doesn't provide any protection, Kolok agreed, but the district committee could now have a voice in any other changes.

"We also have really big houses and it takes a lot of money to historically maintain them," he said. "Maybe as a committee we can look at money we can get to help them."

Marino wondered if there was a way to put pressure on property owners to at least maintain the facades. The so-called Hodge houses on Houghton Street, for instance, might have been saved if they had been better maintained.

"It's not about making people do something to their house, it's if they change it," Kolok said. "It's not to restrict what kind of flowerpot you have on the step or what color to paint your shutters. ... We're making sure these buildings don't fall apart or fall down or need demolition."

A public hearing is not required to create a district, and a public outreach is strongly encouraged to get a "buy in" from the community. The average historic district takes about 18 months but Kolok thought starting with the St. Francis' corner might be easiest.

"It's imperative we work as soon as possible for the sake of that intersection," he said. "It's a gateway to the city ... what goes in its place is incredibly critical to North Adams future. ...

"Hopefully, whoever buys that property will see that and if not, maybe we can help them see that."

The meeting was attended by Andrew Barsotti, who was looking for direction in his talks with the Diocese of Springfield.

Barsotti, who attended the University of Massachusetts' master’s degree program in historic preservation, said he was concerned that elements of the church would not be properly salvaged, pointing to the pile of debris on the lawn that had once been the steeple.

The moldings on the side windows, for example, are "12-foot pieces of history," he said. "I just it need to be taken care of."

Barsotti hopes to remove what's left of the steeple, put it back to together and find a place to display it — such as at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art or the proposed model train museum.

"It just needs to be under cover because if not, we're going to lose it," he said.

Editor's note: This article incorrectly described the committee as a commission and the formation of a district. It is also an advising body and the City Council will make any regulations, as was reported in earlier stories.