NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Public Safety Committee is recommending that the sidewalk on Union Street along the Hoosac Mill again be blocked off to pedestrian traffic as a safety precaution. 

 

The condition of the 500-foot-long nearly freestanding wall of the former textile mill (Hoosac Mill No. 2) had been brought up by City Councilor Robert Moulton Jr. after some bricks fell from one section. The owner responded with a preliminary engineering report and a plan to fix unstable sections, and the city's Building Inspector William Meranti did a visual inspection of the structure. 

 

Moulton, a member of the committee, said he was satisfied with the answers but didn't think that was enough.

 

"Basically what I'm looking for is a closure of the sidewalk," he said. "I know it's private property, but at least as a matter of public safety, which I think is paramount ... that sidewalk should be blocked off as an unsafe area to walk."

 

The century-old mill had had a catastrophic roof collapse a decade ago, caused by excessive snow load, and the interior was gutted and the wall fortified.

 

Owner Ariel Sutain, who purchased the property in 2007 and renamed it the NoAMA Mill, said his initial plans for the massive structure went out the window not long after. 

 

"When we started this project there was a building, which was going to be an easy residential, retail conversion," he told the committee. "The world changed, snow changed, everything changed and now we have this amazing structure but it's not really the very straightforward, easy project it was when we took it on."

 

Sutain said he's been working with the same engineering firm, MRH Engineering of Queensbury, N.Y., since the collapse and 14 steel struts had been installed to support the structure. The engineers check twice a month and Sutain's crew checks it every Monday and Friday, he said.

 

Meranti acknowledged that some bricks had fallen from the building but it was not as "substantial" as had been portrayed. Those bricks had fallen from one of the existing sawtooth ridges, the top triangles that had once supported the glass sections of the roof to let light into the mill.  

 

"We've had updates from the same MRH Engineering group that has come out, looked at the shoring -- the things that you can't see behind [the wall]," he said. "There's a series of braces that are anchored in substantial amount of concrete on the other side and they're steel and they're holding the structure plumb."

 

The vulnerable pieces, Meranti said, are the sawtooth pieces and those had lost some bricks. That section was actually outside the sidewalk area that had originally been fenced off. 

 

The inspector said he had looked at the peaks with Sutain and his engineers and the plan had been to remove some and parget, or cap, the tops to prevent water from getting in, freezing and loosening the 100-year-old mortar. 

 

"That plan is being implemented now, and has actually gone beyond that initial plan, and he has taken down many of those sawtooth to the height where the wall is thicker and supported by the areas I spoke about," Meranti said. "So the condition is improving as Mr. Sutain, with the weather and the available time, can get out there and work on it. And thus far I've been comfortable with what has been done by Mr. Sutain and the engineer in response to that particular incident."

 

Eight sawtooth peaks have already been removed, said Sutain, but he was hoping to salvage three that are in good condition to preserve at least a portion of the signature roof line. 

 

Moulton said three of his five questions -- is the building structurally sound, has it been looked at recently and was it insured -- had been answered in the affirmative. His fourth question was to the administration of whether the city had any liability and his fifth was what was the short-term plan. 

 

"The short-term plan is to make it safe as possible," said Sutain, but the long-term plan would depend on how the city responds to a proposal he was not yet ready to make public.

 

He said he was negotiating for a meeting with the administration by late March and, if workable, would be bringing a plan to the City Council. Sutain said he was hoping that the city would be amenable to helping him with attaining grant funding or historic tax credits. 

 

"This is what I'm with right now so I'll try not to concentrate too much on the bad," he said. "I'm looking forward to this meeting with the city toward the end of March and to figure out if there's a way we can bring something great here, or call it what it is and take it down and move on."

 

Sutain said preservation had been his goal and he didn't want the city to lose another mill. Even though it seems bad, he noted, "the Coliseum is still standing."

 

The committee questioned why the sidewalk had been reopened. Meranti said it had been closed for a lengthy period but during that time the walls had been shored up. And it became a safety hazard in itself because people were not crossing to the other side but walking down the roadway beside the fence. 

 

There was a suggestion of putting up covered scaffolding to protect pedestrians but Meranti said Sutain would not be able use the scissor lift to check the exterior. 

 

Chairman Jason LaForest initially said he would vote against closing the sidewalk, even though he wasn't completely satisfied with the engineer's report. 

 

"I feel there has been significant progress in securing the brickwork," he said. "If I understand [Meranti] correctly, you feel that it's safe for pedestrians to walk on that sidewalk, given the stability of the wall and the street-facing bricks."

 

However, he added, if any more bricks fell, he would come back with an order to demolish the structure. Committee member Benjamin Lamb said he couldn't agree to waiting if something happened because it didn't make sense.

 

"I think rather than us waiting to have to make an order for a private building to be torn down, it's healthier for us prevent people from having an interaction with the structure as it currently stands," he said. 

 

All three agreed that any blocking would also require crosswalks and signage. Sutain said he still had 512-feet of chain link fencing and gates that could be put up to still allow the scissor lift access. 

 

The committee voted unanimously to send the recommendation to close the sidewalk to City Council and refer the need for crosswalks to the Traffic Commission to expedite the process.