North Buffalo church to be demolished

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - City Hall has ordered demolition of a North Buffalo church ravaged by an arsonist last year.

Teardown of what was originally the North Park Baptist Church in North Buffalo began Friday, even though the Preservation Board was in the process of researching whether the building qualified for landmark designation. Preservationists say the city ignored its own law, by okaying demolition before that review could be finished.

Tim Tielman of the Campaign for Great Buffalo said, "The public should have been allowed participation in this process. What is happening is, the public is being thwarted."

The church has sat empty since 2006, and was severely damaged in an arson fire last spring.

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Delaware District Councilmember, Michael LoCurto, feels the city is giving irresponsible owners a free pass.

"The Korean Methodist Church has been terrible stewards of this property. The thing was vacant for four or five years; they ignored notices of violation from the city. I just think it's easier and cheaper for them to knock it down, and that's what they were determined to do," LoCurto said.

Neighbor Judy Tutuska says the church once was beautiful, but over the last three decades, it's become a magnet for trouble.

"You worry about drugs, and things like that happening. You worry about your property values. The snow is not shoveled, ever. The lawn is not mowed," Tutuska noted.

Tielman argued, "[Local] landmark designation... offers very impressive tax incentives for people who own and restore historic structures."

Tutuska countered, "It gets to a point where you have to say, what once was, just isn't working anymore. And as much as you hate to see the beautiful old buildings go, sometimes you just have to."

Even as the excavators sit at the corner of Colvin and Tacoma, the Preservation Board is still pursuing landmark status for this building. There's a public meeting at City Hall next Thursday.

If any part of the church is still standing then, Tielman says, they'll fight to save it.