WORCESTER - The Historical Commission voted Thursday night not to initiate a local historic district study for the area of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church.
The board voted 6-0 to deny a request from the Mount Carmel Preservation Society to look into the creation of a district that would have included the church property on Mulberry Street, the historic Mission Chapel on Summer Street, Union Station at Washington Square and other landmarks in that area.
The commission voted despite a request from the preservation group to reschedule a hearing on its request to a later date. The preservation society is fighting to save Mount Carmel from demolition. The church has been closed since May 2016 because of the building's structural problems.
Commission Chairman Andrew Shveda said the vote does not mean the group cannot return to the commission at a later date with another request. But he said it was the board's feeling that it should decide on the current request Thursday.
"It is our duty to actually follow through with this and make a determination and sort of close this petition out," Mr. Shveda said.
The commission denied a request last January to make the church property, which includes the church rectory, the recreation and cultural center, and the Joe DiMaggio Little League Field, a historic district. That proposal solely focused on the 5-acre church property.
Earlier in the day, Mauro DePasquale, president of the Mount Carmel Preservation Society, said the group asked the commission to reschedule. He said in an email that the group is hopeful that an unfettered path toward a positive solution to preserve the church exists.
"We look forward to a cooling-off period, community healing and a solution that will meet the needs and goals of all parties involved," Mr. DePasquale wrote.
At the Historical Commission, Amoret Zamarro Beiter, a member of the Mount Carmel Preservation Society, told commissioners that "new and exciting circumstances" are factoring into the group's efforts, and said the commission could be assured it is in its best interests "to remain open to our right to be heard," she said.
After the vote, Ms. Zamarro Beiter declined to elaborate on the new developments she mentioned to the board. She referred questions to Mr. DePasquale, who could not immediately be reached Thursday night.
Mr. Shveda said the church, considered an important feature of Worcester's historic identity and the heritage of local Italian-Americans, is a beautiful building worth saving, and said he hopes a future use can be found for it. He said he was heartened to hear of new avenues to save the building, but also noted that the other two major properties in the proposed district, Union Station and the Mission Chapel, are already subject to preservation restrictions. He said those two properties would not have really benefited from being included in a historic district.
Commissioner Robyn Conroy said she would like to see the 89-year-old church building survive if at all possible. But she said the proposal needed more work.
Speaking for the Diocese of Worcester, which owns the property, lawyer Stephen F. Madaus said the proposal from the Mount Carmel Preservation Society made no sense, and appeared to be "just drawing lines" in an attempt to distinguish the current proposal from the previous one. He called the proposed historic district whimsical and arbitrary, and noted that several other property owners who would fall within the district have not supported or have voiced opposition to its creation.
In a letter submitted to the commission, the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce also opposed the initiation of a study committee for the historic district proposal, arguing it would set a dangerous precedent that could create a chilling effect on property rights and economic development efforts throughout the city.
"This would take a process that has been designed to study the feasibility and impact of naming a historic district and turn it into a punitive method for punishing landowners who have taken actions that a group disapproves," wrote W. Stuart Loosemore, general counsel and director of government affairs and public policy for the chamber.
The preservation society asked for the creation of a study committee for a historic district in November. The commission originally agreed to take up the request at its Jan. 4 meeting, but decided to put it off to Thursday to give all interested parties more time to prepare their presentations.
Nick Kotsopoulos of the Telegram & Gazette staff contributed to this report.