Efforts to save Spellman house were in vain

Elisha Overton home couldn’t get grants

By Reggie Ponder
Staff Writer

Sunday, November 01, 2009

The demolition of the historical Elisha Overton home on South Road Street nearly a decade ago followed a four-year period in which Elizabeth City officials documented the structure’s state of disrepair and sought without success to obtain grant funds to restore the house.

The house, associated with a prominent African-American stone mason of the early 20th century, has been back in the news recently because of an effort by 4th Ward city councilors to forgive the remaining debt on the property stemming from the city’s demolition of the structure in July 2000.

Fourth Ward Councilman Kirk Rivers and 4th Ward Councilwoman Volanda Watts cast the only votes in favor of Rivers’ motion to forgive the remainder of the demolition debt in an effort to help heirs of the late Hattie Spellman avoid tax foreclosure and keep the land at 517 S. Road St.

The property is located within a National Register Historic District. Spellman’s granddaughter, Cynthia M. Griffin White, has claimed the city acted against historic preservation rules in ordering the house demolished. But officials from the N.C. Historic Preservation Office said last week that city officials appear to have complied with all the relevant regulations.

Official minutes indicate City Council’s Sept. 13, 1999, vote to demolish the structure at 517 S. Road St. was unanimous, with councilors A.C. Robinson Jr., Don Cherry, Lloyd Griffin, Myrtle Rivers, Darryl Stallings Sr., Jimmie Sutton and Jeannie Young voting for it as part of council’s consent agenda at the meeting.

Renee Gledhill-Earley of the N.C. Historic Preservation Office explained it was not necessary for the city to secure a Certificate of Appropriateness since the house was not designated in a locally designated historic district.

Since the property falls within a National Register Historic District, federal law requires the city to consult with historic preservation authorities before making changes to the site if federal funds are being used or have been used at the location, Gledhill-Earley explained.

The city contacted the state office for an opinion in 1997 because the house was under consideration for Community Development Block Grant funds.

The state office recommended the city not tear the building down.

But if no CDBG funds were used and the city decided to demolish the structure for safety reasons, the recommendation did not carry the force of law, she explained.

City Manager Rich Olson and Community Development Officer Vincent Mani said Thursday they had been unable to find where any grant money had been spent on the house.

The Hugh Cale Revitalization Strategies Grant did not begin until the year following the demolition of the house. Mani said there was another grant in the South Road Street area during the 1990s but 517 S. Road St. was not part of that project.

The city’s inspection report for the site mentions efforts to obtain grant funding to restore the house. A note dated Feb. 4, 1999, state the Planning Department had been unable to secure a grant to cover the total cost of restoration, estimated then at $50,000-60,000.

A Feb. 12, 1999, notation refers to a telephone conversation with White in which a city inspector told her it was his opinion that painting the trim on the house would be a waste of money “until other major areas were corrected.”

The city’s Public Works Committee recommended demolition at its meeting on Aug. 16, 1999.

Steven L. Harrell, who was city manager at the time, asked inspectors in November 1999 to hold off on demolition at Robinson’s request, according to city records. Inspectors reported to Harrell in March 2000 that the structure’s condition had continued to deteriorate, according to records.

Harrell authorized the demolition July 10, 2000, noting “the city had exhausted all means to save the structure and it was becoming a liability to the public and to the city.”

City records indicate the demolition permit was issued July 20, 2000, and abatement was completed by Dan Abby Inc. the following day.

The city’s inspection property for the site begins with a notation on June 3, 1996, that utilities should be “blanked off” because of the condition of the roof.

The city received a letter from Elizabeth City Neighborhood Corporation in support of restoration efforts in February 1997. An extension request from the Elizabeth City State University Community Development Department was received in July of that year. Also in July 1997 the city’s Planning Department reported it was “looking into utilizing some grant money for repairs,” according to city records.