Debris removal begins at the Naval home. Neighbors say the crane only arrived March 31 and Toll need not have waited 60 days to put up the temporary inner fence, which required no post-hole digging.

Residents stunned, discouraged by McCaffery's response at April 2 hearing

Save the Naval Home -- what you can do

In what appeared to be a complete reversal of his earlier treatment of the City's suit against Toll Brothers, Judge Seamus P. McCaffery accepted arguments from Toll's John McDonald at face value, brushing aside the objections of the city's senior counsel Andrew Ross and scolding spectators for visibly (and audibly) registering their shock and dismay at statements by Toll that ran counter to what they were witnessing on the property.

John McDonald, Toll executive, spoke first at the hearing, saying that there was conceptual agreement on the design for a new roof for the historic structure, damaged in a five-alarm fire February 3, 2003. McDonald also reported that a temporary fence had been erected, debris removal had begun, and the process was being documented by archival quality photography. He then displayed (to the Court but not to any of the spectators) drawings or plans for the new roof.

"The City is less sanguine," Ross responded. He cited Toll Brothers' repeated failures to agree to any stipulations in writing, to produce the engineering report Toll claimed was necessary to answer the Keast & Hood report, or to produce an architectural structures report. The security fence, which was to have surrounded the entire Strickland group, only surrounds Biddle Hall. He asked the judge for a $5,000 absolute fine and a $10,000 conditional fine if there is no immediate remediation.

McDonald then replied by saying that Andrew Ross was out of the loop and not well-informed on the progress on the building, and by blaming city officials for being obstructionist, standing in the way of Toll's progress by not granting permits quickly enough and/or getting approvals from the state or the federal historic entities. "I invite you to come see the progress we're making," McDonald said. He also suggested that the City was not cooperating with Toll's efforts at demolition and graffiti removal. (For another perspective on that, see report on the March 19 community meeting, to which Toll Brothers was invited to send a representative but did not do so.) City planning commission official Richard Tyler explained that Tolls' permit for demolition was rejected because it went far beyond what was necessary to repair the roof. "We don't want to approve a far-reaching demolition permit in support of a plan we haven't been shown yet," Tyler observed.

McCaffery made it plain that he was satisfied with Toll's representations, saying, "as long as I believe that things are being done properly, as efficiently and quickly as they can, I have no problem continuing" without issuing court orders or sanctions. "A court order is an admission that the process has failed," he said, and granted McDonald's request that another hearing be scheduled in sixty days.

Carl Primavera, speaking for Toll, suggested that a great deal of the problem was one of communication and it was agreed that Toll would keep a daily log of tasks accomplished and send it to the City on a daily basis.

Andrew Ross also asked that Toll take steps to secure the two residences, installing security fences, making roof repairs and shoring up the center hall staircase in one of the residences. McDonald responded that the fencing would go up; the other repairs, he said, had already been done and the City had been informed. Ross also asked that the City be reimbursed for the cost incurred with L&I boarded up the windows, as well as for the cost of the Keast & Hood engineering report. Primavera asked the City to submit an invoice, which, he averred, would be paid within thirty days.

The date of the next hearing was set for Tuesday, June 3 at noon, courtroom 1103, Criminal Justice Center, June 3, 2003.

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