Yesterday it was Dante today it is Sophocles and our allegorical tale picks up with the latest in greek tragedy:
The owners of the 267-year-old Grumman-St. John house have filed a tax assessment appeal disputing the city’s valuation of the 93 East Ave. property.
The appeal was filed Tuesday in state Superior Court in Stamford.
Owner Chris Handrinos wants to knock down the house to expand his property at the Norwalk Inn, while preservationists want to save the home.
A temporary injunction granted to the Norwalk Preservation Trust and the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism in February prevented demolition.
“We think the court will be sympathetic to us because we cannot use our property. How can you pay taxes for something you cannot control?” Handrinos said. “We can’t even sell it. We’ve approached brokers, and they won’t even consider it because of the condition of the building and the restraints.”
City officials declined to comment on the appeal.
In an October 2007 revaluation, the tax assessor determined the fair market value of the property at $694,300, for an assessment of $486,010. Properties are assessed at 70 percent of market value.
After he contested the assessment with the Board of Assessment Appeals last month, it was dropped to $416,010, but that is not low enough, Handrinos said.
The appeal requests that the property taxes be reduced to 70 percent of the real value, which is “zero,” Handrinos said.
“There is no value, because we cannot touch the building, we cannot use the building, we cannot sell the building,” Handrinos said.
The allegory that springs to mind here is Sisyphus, but instead of rolling a boulder up the hill, Handrinos just keeps paying lawyers. Lawyers, boulders, hrmmm, I’ll come back to that another day. Then there’s the odd tactic of fighting city hall in the news. Or the other odd part about not being able to sell the building, because of the self inflicted condition no less. There’s a joke in there somewhere, like the boy who kills his parents and asks the judge for leniency because he’s an orphan. Okay, Sophocles didn’t write that. Where is Tiresias when you need him?
So here we are in the thick of the modern version of Antigone. Creon is still at it, questioning laws and ignoring society. Or really about a third floor.
In ongoing meetings mediated by Mayor Richard Moccia, Handrinos, Norwalk Preservation Trust members and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal are discussing possible resolutions.
Handrinos offered to sell the property to the Norwalk Preservation Trust for $1 after he gains a variance to build a third story on the Norwalk Inn, on the condition that the trust help him win the support of neighbors for the variance and restore the building to its original condition, estimated to cost $3 million.
The trust has not responded to his month-old offer, Handrinos said. Tod Bryant, head of the trust, said there is nothing the group can do to guarantee the variance.
“That’s a very generous offer, but we can’t control the Zoning Board. That’s a zoning issue and an issue for the neighbors,” Bryant said. “What he’s asking us to do is something we can’t do.”
The battle over the building began in September 2006, when Handrinos and inn co-owner George Katsaros were issued a permit to raze the building.
The Norwalk Preservation Trust requested a 90-day delay and worked with Blumenthal and the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism to get a temporary injunction to block demolition.
Blumenthal said the building is protected under the Connecticut Environmental Protection Act, which forced the owners to prove there are no “feasible” alternatives to demolition.
Only time will tell if this Creon gets his anagnorisis.
source: Advocate, Historic home owners appeal valuation, By Alexandra Fenwick, 05/15/2008
