Bucksport officials have told the owner of a vacant historic downtown church that if he doesn’t take action to address the building’s mold, structural issues, water intrusion, bad plumbing and pest infestation, he will have to tear the building down.
The almost 190-year-old former United Methodist Church at 71 Franklin St. has been in declining condition for years, though an area developer says he wants to turn it into housing if the town will agree to dedicate public parking spaces to the building. The congregation sold it seven years ago to Hugh Sinclair, an antique clock collector and seller in Ontario.
He purchased the building to remove its clock mechanism, according to Luke Chiavelli, the town’s code enforcement officer.
Sinclair didn’t return a request for comment Friday. The church clock no longer has hands visible on its face, and the spire is gone; the grounds were overgrown when a reporter visited Friday.
It’s another example of the changing fates faced by historic church buildings that once anchored Maine communities but now have shrinking congregations that can’t maintain them. Elsewhere in town, the once empty North Bucksport United Methodist Church now houses an Orthodox congregation, and another church down Franklin Street has become a school building. In Brooklin, the remaining members of the town’s centrally located Baptist church have offered their building to the town for community use.
The Franklin Street structure was built in 1839, one of three Methodist churches in Bucksport that were often served by students at the town’s Methodist seminary, according to a town history sign.
Facing expensive repairs, the congregation in 2019 bought and moved to the former Verso Paper mill’s fitness center building on nearby River Road, where it now holds services.
The old building has sat dormant since, though Orrington developer Dick Campbell for years has proposed turning it into up to 16 one-bedroom apartments. No plans or applications have been presented for work there.
Campbell declined to comment on specifics of the violation letter Friday, but said the building is in good condition aside from movement in its foundation, which he called an inexpensive repair. In his view, the church has “a lot of potential” and an “incredible” interior.
He’s working with Sinclair and wants to develop the space into much-needed affordable housing for the town while contributing to its tax base, he said, but doing so depends on adding parking.
He wants Bucksport to dedicate 12 public spaces across the street to the building but said he hasn’t heard back from officials about the request or their level of interest in the proposal.
“In a lot of cases, these buildings just get abandoned,” Campbell said. “Instead of having a taxable property, [the town] could have a property on their hands that they may need to take down.”
A first letter of violation sent January 15 gives the owner 45 days to start rehabilitation or get a permit to demolish the structure, and complete that removal within 90 days. Sinclair had not responded as of Thursday, according to the town.
To rehabilitate it, he must “secure the building, retain qualified professionals to assess and stabilize the structure, eliminate water intrusion and repair failed plumbing systems, remediate mold, rot and pest infestation, and bring the building into compliance with…the town code,” according to a memo written by Chiavelli.
The building is not in immediate danger of collapsing, Chiavelli said, but needs major structural work to be habitable. Raccoons are now living inside it, he said.
“It’s pretty impressive,” he said, noting beams joined with wooden pegs in place of nails. “It would be a shame for it to be torn down.”
He said the letter was a first notice and he wants to have a conversation with Sinclair about plans for the site and getting an engineer’s input on what work needs to be done for any development project to proceed.