Resolution could scuttle sailing hall

Organizers threaten to find another city if Burtis House site opposed

By ANDREW CHILDERS, Staff Writer

Published 03/25/08

Opposed by preservationists hoping to save a historic waterfront home, the National Sailing Hall of Fame warned the City Council last night of the "significant likelihood" the organization would haul anchor if it doesn't get explicit support from Annapolis government.

The Hall of Fame has proposed leasing the William H. Burtis House at City Dock from the Department of Natural Resources in a move vehemently opposed by the Burtis descendants.

Doug Lashley, a founding member of the Sailing Hall of Fame, sternly warned the council that the hall could relocate to another city if a resolution proffered by Alderman Richard...

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What Annapolis Needs - March 26, 2008

Annapolis calls itself ?The Sailing Capitol of the United States?. The location of the NSHOF at the City Dock on the Burtis Site will solidify that boastful title. If the NSHOF goes to another city, that title will go with it, especially if that city is Newport, Rhode Island. The Burtis House lacks the code requirements downtown business need for public access or private domicile use. Some repairs were made after Hurricane Isabel, but I worry about the structure as it is ?soft? (Yes, I've been inside that building many times visiting the Natural Resources Police) If the Burtis House was converted to a waterman?s museum the building would need to be elevated 4-feet for the flood plane, add a sprinkler system for fire protection, remove asbestos siding/insulation, remove lead paint, add handicap access ramp to the lower floors, and add a handicap access elevator if the upper floors were to be used for public access. If you?ve ever worked on an old house, you know that the more you look, the more you find in the area of rot, termites and other boring insects. The stairwells in Burtis House are very narrow needing to be improved, as well as structural engineer assessment to assign a personnel load limit to the building. I propose that the Burtis house be correctly moved in one piece to a site in Eastport near the Maritime Museum and preserved where the lower floors would be used to honor Capt Burtis and the watermen of Annapolis (who disappeared from Annapolis 35 years ago- Why?). That move would certainly prove that the people of Annapolis value that building. Either that, or let it sit where it exists, with no added value to the economy of Annapolis. The choice seems simple to me. Move the Burtis House, and build the National Sailing Hall of Fame. I'm sure some of the money to move and repair the Burtis House would come from NSHOF supporters, thus doing more to save that structure.

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P. Carrico - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Bad