LOCAL MEETING ROUNDUP.

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Worcester

Demolition permit OK'd for Odd Fellows Home

WORCESTER - The historic former Odd Fellows Home building on Randolph Road has moved a step closer to a date with the wrecking ball.

The Zoning Board of Appeals Monday night granted a special permit to allow the construction of a $14.6 million, 61,920-square-foot state-of-the-art rest home residence for 82 elderly people on the 4.6-acre property where the Odd Fellows Home now sits.

A special permit was needed to allow a nursing/rest home use in a residence-general zoning district.

The rest home will consist of two buildings, each with 41 beds. The facility will also serve those diagnosed with memory impairment, dementia and Alzheimer's disease, according to Todd Rodman, a lawyer representing KMRN Investment LLC, owner of the property.

To make way for the rest home, the long-vacant, 3-1/2-story brick-and-stone Odd Fellows Home building, which has fallen into disrepair, will be coming down.

"I had an opportunity to go through that building from top to bottom; it's a scary place and it takes a lot to scare me," ZBA Chairman Lawrence Abramoff said. "If you gave it to me, I wouldn't take it."

Jo Hart, a city resident, said she was appalled that the city was going to allow a landmark building in the city's north end to be torn down.

She pointed out that even though the Odd Fellows Home building is on the National Register of Historic Places, nothing can be done to block its razing after the one-year delay ordinance previously imposed by the Historical Commission runs out.

Ms. Hart questioned why part of the building could not have been rehabilitated for rest home use.

But Ben Herlinger, one of the project's principals, said the state Department of Public Health never would have given a permit to allow a rest home in the 19th-century building.

In an interview, he said there would have been load-bearing, structural, mechanical and electrical issues associated with the building. He added that the building's antiquated layout also would not have won approval from DPH for a rest home.

Mr. Herlinger said efforts were made to preserve the building's five-story clock tower, but it was determined that would have been physically impossible.

"We are very sensitive to the historic nature of this building and we wanted to do everything we could to at least save the clock tower, but it simply couldn't be done," he said.

Mr. Rodman said the project still needs to go before the Planning Board for site plan approval and the Conservation Commission.

- Nick Kotsopoulos

Holden

Sewer rate hike approved by selectmen

HOLDEN - The Board of Selectmen voted 4-1 Monday night to raise the sewer user rates 3.1 percent, beginning in July.

The increase applies only to the sewer rates, and only to that portion of the rate that is tied to usage. The sewer user fixed fee, which is $13.54 for most residential users, and all of the water rates are unchanged.

The increase is approximately 1.1 percent of the total monthly sewer bill, and will be about $24 per year for the average user.

Department of Public Works Director John Woodsmall said that the rate increase was tied to the sewer user rates because that was where the rates for the water-sewer enterprise fund are currently inadequate.

Selectman Mark Ferguson vehemently opposed the increase, noting that 23 percent of the water that is drawn into the system is unaccounted for...