NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council next week will be asked to appropriate $50,000 to match a state grant and more to fix Notre Dame Church.

 

Mayor Richard Alcombright sought $50,000 from Secretary of State William F. Galvin, who oversees the Massachusetts Historical Commission, to help in stabilizing the rear buttresses of the church. One buttress has partially collapsed and others show mortar weakness. 

 

The total estimate by Barry Engineers and Constructors Inc. comes to $211,770. Alcombright told the City Council in July that he anticipated requesting a transfer from the stabilization account for the repairs.

 

Last week, the mayor confirmed that he had received notification the city was awarded the preservation grant. 

 

"We're getting a contractor lined up to begin those repairs almost immediately," he said at last week's North Adams Chamber of Commerce get-together. "We want to have the situation remediated and we want to have the buttress stabilization done before the bad weather."

 

The deterioration of the brickwork was caused by water getting into the masonry after a gutter system was stolen.

 

City officials had not considered the church as in as a dire a strait as St. Francis' Church, but Barry Engineers and Constructors Inc. in its report said the "building structure must be repaired immediately to avoid partial or a major building collapse."

 

Building Inspector William Meranti said earlier this summer that the building itself is stable so far and that the buttress repairs were beyond the scope of city workers. 

 

Barry also recommended checking all masonry joints for repointing and repairing and replacing the gutter system.

 

The mayor hopes to put the church and its adjacent school on the market. The property was purchased by the city in 2007 in large part to prevent the loss of the steeple. The rectory on the east side was sold to Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Foundation for its Alumni Association. The rest of the property has been unoccupied.

 

Alcombright also said the city is working to get masonry repaired at the Armory. Distinctive blue tarps have been covering the front section around the eagles for months because of potential water issues. 

 

"Masonry work done eight years ago has failed and we're working with the contractor to get them to be responsible for it," said the mayor. "This fall, before the bad weather comes, we're going to have to fix around those parapets.

 

"The thing we don't want is water getting behind that masonry, getting into those walls and doing any damage."

 

The Armory has been undergoing a multiphase, multi-year renovation being funded through the city's annual Community Development Block Grant awards. The latest phase is a two-part parking lot construction and interior work including the renovation of the commercial kitchen in the basement. 

 

A third project, outside the city's purview, is expected to ramp up this week: St. Francis of Assisi.

 

The 150-year-old church is undergoing demolition that's taking longer than expected. The steeple was deconstructed over more than a week in May as an emergency removal. During the summer, more work was done on removing any hazardous materials such as asbestos. 

 

But it wasn't until late August the serious demolition began on the church structure and what was left of the tower knocked down on Sept. 1 — more than two weeks ago. 

 

"I couldn't be more disheartened with the lack of speed with which this is coming down," Alcombright said. "We have a strong commitment from them that they are going to be back here [this week]."

 

A "massive amount of trucks" from TAM Waste Management in Pownal, Vt., is expected to start hauling the debris away this week and "not going to stop until it's gone."