The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Saving a historic home on Waterside Lane
Local group, state work to keep house from being razed
CLINTON — Residents and the State Historic Preservation Office are working to stop the demolition of a 1785 house on Waterside Lane that is listed with the National Register of Historic Places.
The builder on the project says the old house isn’t worth saving — that it would be cheaper build a new dwelling than renovate. The property owner, however, has a different take — he is willing to work with the Preservation Office, but hopes to reach a compromise that will allow him to build a new home.
While the town cannot stop a demolition, the Planning and Zoning Commission is holding a public hearing Sept. 12 to hear “protests” from neighboring property owners.
And the clock is ticking. The owner, Steven Bugg, posted a sign Aug. 22 on the property, as required by town regulations to serve notice that the house is slated for demolition. This is required for any structure built before 1945, according to town Building Official Kathy King.
The owner has 90 days from that date before he can raze the house, King said.
Regardless of the commission’s findings after the hearing, it can make recommendations but cannot stop demolition, King said, and only the state can do that.
King said she has contacted the town attorney to “see what our rights are” regarding any action by the commission and the rights of the property owner.
“Because if this becomes something that would go to court, I want to be prepared,” King said.
The owner plans to knock down two buildings on the property and build a single-family home, according to builder John Giannotti of Waterside Building/Development II, who is on the project. No site plans have been filed in town yet.
Bugg said he did not know the house was listed on the National Register for Historic Places when
he bought the property, noting there was no plaque on the home nor any other indication of its status.
“I bought the home four years ago as a rental,” Bugg said. “I certainly knew the house was old, but I was not told it was a historic home. There was nothing in the deed and there was nothing disclosed to me at the time, I purchased it from the real estate agency who had it listed.” Bugg bought the 0.93-acre parcel with six buildings in 2018 for $776,000.
Bugg said he wanted to demo the house, “mainly because it’s very small. It’s a cute house, but it’s not necessarily functional in today’s standards.”
State officials say the house is protected because it is listed on the National Historic Register as a “protected resource.”
National historic districts come under the U.S. Department of Interior and the State Historic Preservation Office.
They are entirely separate from local historic districts, such as the Liberty Green Historic District and the East Main Street Village District, which are under the jurisdiction of the Clinton Historic District Commission.
Local historian Peggy Adler of Clinton and interested neighbors had submitted a paper petition to the town zoning office for the local regulations to kick in and allow them to make a formal protest to the zoning board.
Adler and lifelong Waterside Lane resident Maureen Wellman collected some 50-plus signatures from residents on the street; they needed only 20 within a 500-foot radius, according to zoning laws.
Adler is leading the fight on both the local and state levels to save the Capt. James Farnham House at 69 Waterside Lane, a “contributing resource to the Clinton Village Historic District,” the online petition states.
The house is one of 100 “major buildings” in
the district listed with the National Register for Historic Places, according to documents from the local Clinton Historical Society on the town’s website, clintonct.org.
This means that buildings in the district that are listed as “contributing resources” come under state laws — not local ordinances — when it comes to demolition.
The Clinton Village Historic District, named in 1994, is one of two National Historic Districts in town — the other is the High Street Historic District, added in 2020, which includes the Ponds/Unilever building, which is art deco in style.
And there are plans for a third National Historic District in Clinton that would encompass Commerce Street, which features gracious sea captain’s homes, and Leffingwell Road, which has examples of kit-built homes from the 1920s. The State Historic Preservation Council recently approved a $20,000 grant to hire a consultant, according to Adler.
To start the process with the state, Adler has submitted an online petition with more than 700 signatures to the state Historic Preservation Office.
Waterside Lane, which features a collection of 18th and 19th century homes, is known as a picturesque street that leads to Clinton Harbor.
Wellman, whose family has lived on the street since the earliest days of the town when it was part of the original Homenoscitt Plantation in the 17th century, noted that visitors enjoy coming to the street and look at the homes.
“Waterside Lane is known in town and outside of town as being one
of the nicest streets. … We have all kinds of people walking up and down the street all the time,” she said. “And it’s because of how historic — it’s just a beautiful street. There’s so many old homes.”
“So to knock one down it doesn’t make sense to me,” Wellman said.
“Miss Adler and others have shown their opposition to the house coming down and they certainly have the right to feel that way,” said Bugg. “They don’t necessarily have any skin in the game either and it’s my property. And I was hoping to build something beautiful that fits in with the landscape and we’re going to have to see where it goes from here.”
“The law is pretty easy,” said Todd Levine, an architectural historian with the state Historic Preservation Office. “The threshold for meeting the law is: Is it historic? Is it threatened with demolition and, if it is, then under the public trust we can do an injunction.”
But first there must be a public outcry against razing a protected building, he noted.
“That outcry is demonstrated by a petition and letters of support of preservation of the building — hundreds and hundreds of signatures,” Levine said. “We don’t get involved if 20 people cry about a lost building — even if it’s significant. We have to have considerable community support for preservation.”
Staff from Levine’s office plan to inspect the house and make a recommendation to the state Historic Preservation Council, which meets monthly. This board then would submit a recommendation to the state attorney general’s office if
it supported any action. The next step would be the state filing a lawsuit to stop the demolition, according to Levine.
The protection for these historic buildings comes under the auspices of the Connecticut Environmental Protection Act adopted in 1971; the National Register of Historic Places was added later to the law in the 1980s, according to Levine.
“This is the same law that protects clean air and clean water,” he said. “It’s in the public trust because these are finite resources. Once they’re gone they’re gone forever, like endangered species,” he said.
But Giannotti disagrees and does not think the house is worth saving.
“The previous owner made it a two-family home, it’s got vinyl siding on it, stainless steel pipes going up the side for chimneys,” he said. “Nothing has ever been done to it to keep it in the character of the original state.”
“My client wants to go — and in my opinion they’re right — and build what they want there,” he said.
“Obviously keep it in the character of Waterside Lane, make it look like it always been there. They’re not going to build some monstrosity,” Giannotti said.
Bugg said had he known of the historic designation of the house, he would have approached this project differently. “This was just a surprise because I didn’t know ahead of time it was on the National Historic Register,” he said, adding that the project is “going in reverse.”
Levine admitted that being listed on the Register can be confusing for homeowners, real estate agents and developers. However, he pointed out that information or identification of being on the National Register is not included on land deeds, but is listed under the aegis of the National Parks Service and in Connecticut with the State Historic Preservation Office.
In Clinton, information is available on the town’s website under the heading “historic district commission” with links to more detailed information about the two national registered historic districts in town and all the properties listed.
Giannotti said he is not against historic houses.
“I don’t like to see these old houses down,” Giannotti added. “But if you go inside them, no one’s kept them up to the way they should be.”
“You could spend a million bucks to bring it back to the way it looked in the 1700s,” he said. “But it’s not what my client wanted to do when he purchased it. You’re basically telling him how to spend his money.”
Levine said he hopes to be able to work with the property owner.
“We want to reach out to him early so that he does know what the process is,” Levine said. “And we can hopefully work with him and find a solution that saves the building. that’s the goal at the end of the day.”
Bugg said he is willing to work with the Preservation Office to find a solution.
“So now that I know that, I certainly want to work with Todd Levine and figure out whether or not it can be removed. If it can’t, what are the next steps? I’m going to work with him and go from there,” Bugg said.