Ames site’s owners plan to build there

“I can tell you this, unequivocally - there will be something done with that place,’’ said George Turner, the developer who owns the complex with his brother, Robert.

In a clash between property rights and historic preservation, the Turners say they are pursuing several parallel plans to redevelop the property, including an affordable housing project that would use some of the existing stone and wood factory buildings. They have also applied for demolition permits for the entire 8-acre site, and are pondering “another option I don’t want to disclose at this time,’’ George Turner said last week.

Turner vowed: “Many may not like what happens, but there will be something done there. I own it. I control it. I decide what happens. No one else does. My brother and I do.

“We’re pursuing three avenues - all three are viable.’’

Town officials have pledged to try to save the shovel complex, which the National Trust for Historic Preservation in April named one of the 11 “most endangered historic places’’ in America. The 15 granite and wood buildings on the site were built between 1852 and 1928, according to the National Trust. Iron blade shovels manufactured at the Ames complex were used during the Civil War, the California Gold Rush, and the building of the transcontinental railroad.

The fate of the Turners’ affordable housing plan is now with the state Housing Appeals Committee, which is considering the developers’ appeal of construction restrictions imposed by the Easton Zoning Board of Appeals.

The brothers last year proposed redeveloping the shovel shops into 160 rental units, 17 condominiums, 15,000 square feet of commercial space, and 373 parking spaces. Preservationists objected to the plan, which proposed expanding several buildings with additional floors, and razing other buildings. The local zoning board in May issued a permit for affordable housing at the shovel shops, but with restrictions to protect the site’s historic character. The Turners contend the project can’t survive financially under the restrictions.

Meanwhile, a set of neighbors has sued the Zoning Board and the Turners, asking the Superior Court to revoke the permit issued by the board and to declare that the Turners aren’t even eligible to apply to build affordable housing at the shovel shops complex. The suit asserts that the Zoning Board failed to properly weigh the area’s need for affordable housing against the “environmental and site planning concerns’’ of the neighborhood. Even with the restrictions imposed by the board, the lawsuit alleges that the Turners’ housing proposal would “cause environmental harms and destroy buildings of nationally recognized historic and architectural significance.’’

George Turner, in an interview, shrugged off the suit as “just a frivolous claim’’ and “a stall tactic’’ that will be dismissed in court.

A spokesman for the Housing Appeals Committee said a decision on the Turners’ appeal is probably still months away.

On an alternative track, the Turners in late May applied for demolition permits to flatten all of the structures on the site.

In response, the Easton Historical Commission declared after a hearing that “all structures on the site are preferably preserved, according to requirements in the bylaws, because they were found to be at least 75 years old and historically significant,’’ said town Building Inspector Mark Trivett. With that finding, the Historical Commission delayed the issuance of demolition permits for one year, he said.

George Turner argues that the demolition permits should be issued immediately, saying that the Historical Commission missed a deadline to announce its finding after its July 9 hearing. Trivett disagrees, explaining that the hearing that began on July 9 reconvened later in July, and that the commission met its deadlines after formally closing its hearing on July 22.

The one-year demolition delay is designed to give the land owners and town officials some time to find alternatives to knocking down historic buildings. Turner said he has not recently discussed alternatives with town officials, and suggested that if the town wanted to preserve the buildings, officials should take the complex by eminent domain.

“That’s an option they have,’’ he said. “Go ahead, do it. They want to preserve it the way they want, tell them to go ahead, take it.’’

Mark Arsenault can be reached at mark0079@comcast.net.