Cap'n Jack's Demo Appears Headed for Delay

Six members of the voted Tuesday night to inform the town's Building Commissioner that they have found theto be "historically significant," and have set a public hearing date for Tuesday, Oct. 25 to hear testimony from the town on the value of the properties as public resources.

The vote essentially puts in motion a locally adopted by-law that allows the Commission to request a demolition delay on the project, putting the brakes on a project that had hoped to break ground this year.

Historical Commission Chairperson Jean Reardon voted with members Sylvia Belkin, Sue Munafo, Melanie Aldrich-Peterson, Jason Mahler and Merry Glosband in making the determination.

Mahler and Glosband were voting in their first meeting since being appointed to the Commission. Historical Commission Vice Chairperson Angela Ippolito recused herself from the vote, because the proponent for the project that would replace Cap'n Jacks, local developer Bruce Paradise, owns the contracting company that is currently doing work to Ippolito's home.

The vote followed a lengthy discussion on what exactly "historic significance" means, and how it should be applied to the project in question.

In addition to the full voting members of the Commission, several associate members of the commission were also in attendance and though they did not vote on the buildings' historical significance, all of them voiced their opinions that the buildings are significant to the "street scape" of Humphrey Street.

Many also referred to a session of the Commission that was held to take testimony from an architectural expert on the buildings.

According to the members at Tuesday night's meeting, that expert, Frank Shirley, an architect and former longtime member of the Cambridge Historical Commission, said at least two of the buildings on the property are 'architecturally historically significant' because they depict the Italianate style that was popular when the building was first constructed.

In addition to their discussion of the significance of the Cap'n Jack's properties, several of the Commission members commented about the size and design of the building that has been approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals to replace the Cap'n Jack's buildings.

One associate member had even created his own rendering of what the streetscape would look like with the new proposed building on the site. However, it was determined that he had been working with an older set of plans and his drawing was therefore inaccurate.

Bruce Paradise and Barry Turkanis, the owners of the Concordia development that would replace the Cap'n Jacks buildings, were on hand, as was the building's current owner. Following the Commission's vote that the buildings are historically significant, Paradise noted that discussion of the proposed building should not have been allowed during the Commission's debate.

"This discussion tonight was only supposed to be about the existing buildings on the site and their significance to the town," said Paradise. "The proposed building has been approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals, and frankly, they (the Historic Commission) don't have any say on the design."

Paradise also acknowledged the importance of the work the Historical Commission does in trying to preserve the character and integrity of the town.

"We all respect (that) they have an important job to do," he said. "And we respect the fact they want to delay this project from going forward. But the question is if this project doesn't go there, what will? It can't stay there as an inn, it's not viable."

"This building is a (new) start for Humphrey Street and Humphrey Street needs a new start," he added.