18. REPORT, Committee on Appointments & Briefings, recommending that the City Council Grant the Demolition of 1 REAR COFFIN AVENUE (Map 100/Lot 117).

18a. COMMUNICATION/DEMOLITION, New Bedford Historical Commission to City Council, RE: BUILDING DEMOLITION REVIEW - 1 REAR COFFIN AVENUE (Map 100/Lot 117) a Circa 1902 masonry mill building, the building is architecturally and historically significant and is a contributing resource within the Whitman Mills National Register District, it has associations with the City’s cotton textile industry as well with internationally known mill architect/engineer Charles R. Makepeace, notable contractor Benjamin F. Smith and leading textile manufacturer and commission agent William Whitman; a 2019 Board of Survey report drafted by a licensed structural engineer, documented substantial roof structural system collapse and declared the building unsafe and dangerous per the provisions of the State Building Code, the building is structurally compromised and beyond feasible rehabilitation to the extent that it presents as a public hazard; the City and the Massachusetts Historical Commission, with the NBHC as a concurring party, will be entering into a Memorandum of Agreement with stipulations to photo document the building in order to mitigate the adverse effect to historic resources, “in light of these findings, the New Bedford Historical Commission has determined that the building at 1 Rear Coffin Avenue is a Historically Significant but not Preferably Preserved historic building”. (Referred to the Committee on Appointments and Briefing – June 23, 2022.)