Access board holding fines on Sylvia building
BY MARY LANCASTER
Arenovation to the interior of Barrington Antiques at Zero Washington St. that triggered a requirement for handicap access has now led to stiff fines against building owner Frank Sylvia Jr., and closure of the Barrington retail space until that section of the structure is in full compliance with the access law.

The Washington Street portion of Frank Sylvia's building must be made handicap accessible if he is to reopen and avoid thousands in fines.

Following a Dec. 11 Architectural Access Board hearing that Sylvia and relatives attended, the board voted to assess fines of $1,000 per day for the period of Sept. 1, 2006 through Dec. 25, 2006, after which the building was to be closed to the public. The fines are being held during the closure and will be reviewed when the building is appropriately accessible. Status reports on the work must be submitted to the AAB monthly as of Jan. 1 of this year.

Sylvia has the option of either installing a vertical lift or a ramp entrance. He maintains that ramp designs previously proposed were rejected and that putting in a lift will not only be costly but adversely alter the historic structure. Other structures in the same area with lifts, although not as historic, include The Nobby Shop and Force Five.

According to background provided by Sylvia prior to the hearing, in 2003 he began renting about 720 square feet in the building to antiques dealer Michael Barrington. With Sylvia's permission, Barrington made renovations to the interior that were completed in 2004. He was denied a certificate of occupancy based on the fact that the work went over a $100,000 threshold that requires handicap access. Sylvia said Barrington was still allowed to open his shop, but had to address the access issue.

Barrington brought in engineer Ted Burnham, who proposed a lift that complied with AAB regulations but would have absorbed some of the store's inside area. The access board continued that hearing and asked Burnham to submit exterior ramp designs for consideration. According to Thomas Hopkins, director of the AAB, the first ramp was too steep and had minor deviations from the width requirement.

The slope was improved in a subsequent design; however, the distance between the handrails was reduced, rendering the ramp too narrow. Both ramp plans were disapproved and the board decided to accept the original lift, although that option was not required, and an order issued to bring the building into compliance by Sept. 1, 2006. Further, an order had issued last May requiring monthly status reports on access work, but only one was submitted.

According to the AAB's detailed decision sent to several parties by certified mail on Jan. 10, there appeared to be a lack of communication and a fair amount of confusion between Burnham, Sylvia Jr., and other family members throughout the process beginning when the accessibility issue was triggered.

The document, which contains the Dec. 11 hearing minutes, states that Frank Sylvia Jr., attended that session with his attorney, John Neylon, his wife Terry Sylvia, and Cynthia Thurston, Terry Sylvia and Lisa Hartley. Thurston and Hartley along with Sylvia, Jr., are trustees of Islander Realty Trust II and Terry Sylvia is a trust representative. The building, purchased in 1941 for $6,000 by Frank Sylvia Sr., was left to his children through the trust when he died in 1981.

Frank Sylvia Jr. and Thurston, two of Sylvia Sr.'s children, acquired sole ownership of the trust in 1997. When Burnham, on behalf of Barrington Antiques, petitioned the board for an access variance, apparently there was a lack of communication between Burnham and the building owners. The Sylvias could not attend board hearings because of Sylvia Jr.'s health problems.

Other family members who did attend a March 2005 hearing stated that they misunderstood the board's posture, and that they as well as Sylvia Jr., did not receive the AAB decision on the ramps until July 2006. Sylvia Jr. also said he had been under the impression that Burnham was filing the requested status reports.

Hopkins, in addressing the issue of historic buildings, said, "We know accessibility on Nantucket can be troublesome. We are cognizant of the historic fabric of the island, but when access is achievable we're going to order it.

"There are historically significant buildings that can comply," he added. "Our mission here is to be careful of our proccess and the rights of people coming before us, but [this] opens the doors for customers who come to the island who do have disabilities. Whenever we can get access on Nantucket we are going to require it, but we don't single people out."

Neither Frank Sylvia, Jr., nor Burnham could be reached for comment on the outcome of the fine hearing.

The building has been on the market for about a year and is listed at $5.8 million. Sylvia believed he had a buyer a few months ago, but the deal fell

through. I