Perry Main Street committee split on historic home demolition

PERRY — The Main Street Design Committee split in a 3-3 vote Wednesday about whether to recommend a historic home for demolition.

The Colonial Revival-style house at 1007 First St. was built in 1937 and is deemed to have historically significant value in the Georgia Historic Resources Survey conducted in 2002 by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

The property where the house sits recently was acquired by First Baptist Church. In February, the Perry Planning Commission approved the church’s request to move the house from the property. Three people have approached the church about moving the home, but church member Jim Langston told the committee “all three of them have backed out.”

“The church would like to go ahead and dismantle and remove this house,” Langston said, telling committee members that someone is interested in the oak floor and wood paneling in the home.

Langston said the house has long been neglected and that the church would like to turn the land into greenspace or a parking lot.

Committee member Marty Myers said he was one of the three who approached the church about moving it and asked if the city could offer a low interest loan to someone willing to do so. Chairwoman Terre Walker said that could be looked into.

The committee's evenly split vote will send a neutral recommendation to the Planning and Zoning Commission, which will decide the building’s fate. Board members Trisha Cossart, Walker and Lindsay Bailey voted against recommending the demolition while Kim Mullins, Myers, and Vanna Brown voted in favor.

“When the Baptist church bought this building, they were fully aware that was a historic structure and what that meant to Perry,” Walker said. “So, from a historic preservation standpoint, I hate to see any structure of historical significance removed from our downtown area. People do not come to downtown Perry to see our Wal-Mart and our Dollar General.”

In other business, the committee picked out some bike racks and benches for downtown that the Perry City Council could consider. If approved, the two black benches will replace the wooden ones outside the courthouse. The racks are expected to be installed outside The Coffee Cup on Carroll Street.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the Perry Main Street Design Committee.

To contact writer Laura Corley, call 744-4334 or follow her on Twitter @Lauraecor.

This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 10:17 PM with the headline "Perry Main Street committee split on historic home demolition ."