New Life to Dancy

[Debbie Thompson]

I guess that makes sense, because I don't think we knew what a treasure we had until we found that Yeats site, I Love Dancy T, and realized we had one of the largest remaining cottage courts in the US.

Once they are under one ownership, landmark status with the City for the entire property should be sought, and the lot lines and stuff corrected.

[Chris Farley]

Debbie that info did not come from Beth Learn, it came from the massive research done when 5 of us fought for Dancy, through the HPC, Luz and City Council. Beth and I spent quite a bit of time together and stay in touch,she would be the first to correct you on that.
It would be wrong to put a road through the property, it would destroy the "court". It needs to be put back to one piece of property, then parking could be provided for each bungalow at the back from the alley. A spot could be allocated for each. Many houses in Springfield have their only access at the back due to alleys.
Christine Parrish is correct, there were 3 lots along side the court that were going to be used for parking when Tredeshi tried to get the bungalows demolished in order to have two story houses built on their footprints - except one. We showed them in the brochure which was used when we tried to get 24 buyers after the court was saved from demolition.

[Gloria]

There is no doubt that utilizing the empty lots around the court is the preferred parking treatment; however, MetroNorth is pretty set on the lane down the middle.

[Debbie Thompson]

Are the empty lots part of the property, or were people just using them to park without authorization? If they don't go with the property, they would have to be purchased for parking. That may be why.

[Miss Fixit]

None of the vacant lots are owned by any of the individuals / entities that own the houses in Dancy Terrace. It should be relatively simple to acquire one or more for parking.

[Chris Farley]

The lots in question were
071950 0000
071952 0000
071958 0000
They were owned by SRG at the time, who were going to be used by Tredeshi to build the two story houses. The lots were offered as part of the deal. The first two mentioned above were the most viable. They were all shown in the brochure we put out when trying to coax purchasers, after the battle to save them was won. A battle that tore the neighborhood apart for a while. If you wish please see the minutes of the HPC meetings of April 27th 2005 and June 22nd 2005. Also the minutes of the City Council meeting of October 18th 2005 when the council ruled that the bungalows could not be demolished. One lady councilor gave a great speech about the responsibilities of buying in an historic neighborhood - sort of - you knew what you were getting into. The council saved Dancy as is, I believe if there is an attempt to put a road through it will probably finish up at the city council, there are other alternatives. You cannot save an historic property and then destroy its main claim to antiquity. It has to remain a cottage court. The main argument of the side wishing to demolish the bungalows cited their lack historic features. When we dug into the history we got in touch a lady leading a group which saved a cottage court in Suffolk Virginia - this was the lead in to an article on the web "Seven houses - one built before the Civil war, the others comprising a bungalow court unique in Virginia - have been added to historic Suffolk homes ripe for renovation". You can probably still find articles about it on the web, the house which became part of the restored court was The Finney House, ca 1840.
Notice the word unique, when we spoke to the lady heading up the saving and restoration of this court, she was amazed at what we had down here, she thought their court was unique to the East Coast. I know there were a couple of small groups of shotgun type cottages in Riverside, but I think they have gone and our research - maybe someone will differ, showed that we had the largest and oldest in the States. There are many bungalow courts on the West coast with landmark status, but we have not found one as old and large as ours.
Another fallacy regarding our court was that it was built for railway workers. One of the first occupants was J.H. Arano, a Physician. Others were a watch maker, tailor, candy maker - it ran the gamut.
I have a very fat file on Dancy/Redell it was the fight of a life time.
I am glad to see Metro North picking this up. When we tried the price was 1.4 million, it was 2005 before the crash.

[Gloria]

It will be interesting to see what happens with this project.

When I drove by on Friday, I saw a man walking around the court. I pulled in and talked to him. He owns one of the bungalows. I told him about MetroNorth's plans and took his contact info which I passed on to MetroNorth.

This will work itself out, one way or another. Dancy is getting a good bit of attention, and that is a good thing.

I encourage all with desires and opinions to let the HPC know your feelings. It most certainly will be a tough call for them. I, for one, am glad I'm not a commissioner this week.

[Gloria]

Five hours later....

At the end of it all, the commissioners echo our thoughts. They would like to see an alternative parking solution, but they don't want to lose the project either. They would most likely be okay with a limited "lane" down the middle provided parking was diverted to the areas in-between the cottages leaving more green space in the front yard area. Also preferable would be the end units utilizing the CROW area for parking and perhaps eliminating parking for these bungalows at the house.

But they have given a nod to Metro North while placing limits on the alterations to accommodate the lane. Or at least, that was my understanding.

[fsu813]

Thank you for the update. This would be a big win for the neighborhood.

[iloveionia]

It's a start.
I agree there are alternatives to parking, however I'm not going to look gift horse in the mouth. Yet. They have to acquire all 24 houses and that will take some time and potentially offer some challenges. Over the course of their journey I would gather things will change.
However, it's nice that someone (metronorth) has access to funds and has an interest in Dancy.
I have friends who have moved out of the hood whom I've spoken to at length about the saving of Dancy back in 2005. Pretty bold actions by a small group of dedicated folks. Total kudos.