Neighbors of Watertown is offering a Watertown
landlord a compromise for four properties the agency says needs to be
razed in order to make a $4 million neighborhood revitalization project
off State Street happen.
Gary C. Beasley, executive director of Neighbors of Watertown, said
the agency has offered to pay half the cost for a neutral, mutually
agreed upon appraiser to determine a fair price for buildings at 109-110
Emerson Place and 707 and 711 State St. owned by Larry V. Silverstein.
Mr. Beasley said Coon, Varley & Associates, 200 Washington St.,
appraised the buildings at $188,000, but Mr. Silverstein's counteroffer
was $450,000.
However, the appraisal done by Coon, Varley & Associates was
based strictly on the value of the property itself. Mr. Silverstein said
last month that his offer was based on the properties' income value.
According to the compromise, the agency and Mr. Silverstein would
abide by whatever price the independent appraiser came up with, Mr.
Beasley said.
"We're hopeful to come out of this with a mutual
agreement," Mr. Beasley said at this morning's meeting of the Near
East Side Neighborhood Improvement District.
Such an agreement would avoid the specter of eminent domain, in which
the city of Watertown would simply take the properties from Mr.
Silverstein and pay him a court-determined price.
Mayor Joseph M. Butler said last month he would support pursuing
eminent domain, and Councilman Paul A. Simmons said this morning he also
would support the government seizure proceeding.
Mr. Silverstein, a chiropractor at Northern Lights Chiropractic, 1116
Arsenal St., said he is agreeable to the agency's compromise and has had
"very positive" discussions with Mr. Butler and City Manager
Jerry C. Hiller about his properties.
"We're going to make this work amiably," he said.
"We've all agreed to make it an amiable transition. We're making
some very good headway."
Also at this morning's meeting, NESNID members said they will start a
campaign to resurrect a proposed rental registration and inspection law
that failed to gain City Council support a few months ago.
NESNID members, who are mostly business owners along the State Street
area, plan to attend Monday's council meeting and start an advertising
blitz to voice support of the law.
The law was never brought to a vote of council members, but lost
momentum in December after council members Roxanne M. Burns, Peter L.
Clough and Jeffrey M. Smith said they would not support it.
The rental law would have called for interior inspections of
apartments and required landlords to obtain certification before
renting. At three public hearings, the audiences, mostly landlords, told
council members the law would be an invasion of privacy and an
unnecessary additional burden.
But NESNID members said the loud voice of a few landlords shouldn't
stop the City Council from enacting the law, which they said would be to
the benefit of the entire city.
"Just pass the stupid law," said David G. Cheney, owner of
Cheney Tire, 839 State St. He said of council members: "You've got
to be a brave person to be in city government. You can't make everyone
happy all the time."