HAMMOND -- In a move that surprised First Baptist Church members, the Redevelopment Commission approved demolishing the historic Minas building on State Street, the first step toward construction of a multimillion-dollar auditorium.
The five-hour meeting, overflowing with First Baptist Church members, was rife with long looks and snide comments from commissioners as they continually interrupted each other before granting the permit in a 4-1 vote.
The city has been reviewing First Baptist's proposal for months, although the original plan called for a youth center, not an auditorium.
The proposed four-story auditorium, which will seat 5,500, will cost $10 million to $15 million and should take two years to finish, church officials told the commission.
The church's lawyer, Thomas McDermott, son of Hammond's former mayor, told commissioners during Tuesday's meeting "that nobody who is willing to invest this much money in the city should be treated the way my client has been treated."
In late January, Rocharda Moore-Morris, executive director of the Department of Planning and Development, sent First Baptist a list of requirements -- such as traffic flow concerns and relocation of water lines -- that the church needed to submit to the city prior to the demolition.
"This really is a checklist for your protection as well as ours, and I'm really very concerned with the fact that our city engineer is not comfortable with approving the traffic flow plan," Commissioner Margaret Galvin told the hundreds of church members and leaders who had packed into the council chambers for the meeting.
But McDermott said that those were all issues to be dealt with before and during construction, not before the demolition of a building that the church already owned.
"Let's not let bureaucracy trip up something that would be good for the entire city. Let's put politics aside and look at this on its face," McDermott said. "I have a client that is willing to invest millions of dollars in downtown Hammond. We should do anything we can to get this project rolling."
"The church wants a guarantee of cooperation with the city before they are willing to expend that amount of money. So that's sort of the standoff we are at right now," he said.
But Moore-Morris said her department did not see any actual plans until November and has been working with the church. Because of the immense scope of the project, she said, numerous departments must be consulted and grant permission before construction can begin.
"I want to make sure we are clear on that," she said. "We have moved this along as quickly as you've gotten it to us."
The church, which owns much of the property in the area, bought the Minas building in July with the intention of tearing it down.
"Why should we have a problem tearing it down? What's the problem? I don't know what the problem is. You want to put something good in that area and you're being questioned. What's the question? What is the question here? You're doing good for the community, and you've been here for a long time," Commissioner Louis Karubas said.
But Galvin and city officials had reservations about tearing down the old building because they wanted the historic facade to be preserved. Galvin was the permit's sole dissenter because the motion did not cite either the facade's preservation or the requirements listed in the city's January letter.
"Mr. Karubas has indicated earlier that he doesn't care about (the facade), but I happen to like historic things and it's a beautiful facade," she said.
The Rev. Jack Schaap, pastor of the church, acknowledged that the "facade has always been a concern."
"If you want them, you may have them," he said. "The problem is, I believe it's going to cost you $285,000 to tear off those facades. ... Our church could not afford to do that for you, but we're very willing to give them to you."
Schaap said he has worked with Mayor Duane Dedelow Jr. since April, and the church has spent $1.8 million in preliminary planning.
"We'd like to have the wrecking ball go tomorrow," he said.
Dedelow popped in at the end of the discussion to defend his staff.
"The city supports the expansion," he told Schaap. "There's certainly been some back and forth in regards to the project. ... All I can say is thank God for bureaucracy. And you know why? Because this country is built on a system of checks and balances so that people have to go by the laws and rules and regulations."
Meggen Lindsay can be reached at [email protected] or (219) 933-3381.
To see pictures of the Minas demolition (before I get my snapshots uploaded), click here.