ROYALSTON – For well over a year, Royalston officials have been struggling with what to do about a dilapidated building at 25 Main St. in the South Village.

On Tuesday evening, Building Inspector Geoff Newton presented the Selectboard with a letter recommending that he, Fire Chief Eric Jack, and “one non-interested person” inspect the building for safety issues. The correspondence states that a report will be presented to the board by Nov. 30, spelling out recommendations on what to do with the building.

As the letter was being read, the board was unaware that for the first time, Matt Heuser of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, one of the property owners, had come to the meeting to discuss plans he and his partner have for the building.

“I would just like to say, this has been the utmost worst welcoming ever, anywhere,” said Heuser.

After purchasing the property in August 2020, Heuser said a big red “X” appeared on the building. His plans for the site include building a small studio and repairing the roof and windows and putting in new grass and other plantings.

“So, welcome to Royalston. Six months later I received a letter in the mail stating if I didn’t demolish the building myself – and I had nine days to respond to this – that the town would do it and send me a bill,” he said. “So I met with (Newton), I made up an action plan and he refused it – he would not accept me doing any of the changes I wanted to do.”

After his initial presentation to the board, Public Works Director Jaret Thiem pointed out that the big red “X” that had been placed on the building didn’t mean it had been condemned; it is merely a warning to first responders not to enter the structure in the event of a fire due to safety concerns. Newton then said the posting hadn’t been done sooner due to a lack of funding. He said he took funds out of his budget so that Jack could mark several buildings with the warning, adding that the 25 Main St. property had not been singled out.

“I’ve been getting constant, constant cell phone calls from the community there,” said Newton. “They are sick of it, the don’t want to look at it any longer.”

Newton said he had asked Heuser and his partner, Ronald Sears Junior, to provide him with engineering plans for the building. He added that, because the building has been abandoned for more than two years, a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals is needed to establish a studio on the site.

“But that building needs to be taken down,” said Newton, “and anyone with any common sense knows it.”

Heuser read from a letter he had received from Newton, contending it would illustrate Newton’s unwillingness to be helpful in moving his plans forward.

“When zoning was developed in town,” Heuser read from the letter, “that section was zoned strictly residential…Since it’s been abandoned for well over two years, it can’t be re-established as (a business). I would suggest that you bulldoze it down, come into the office with plans of a residential, and we’ll look over the setbacks and see what would be required for the Zoning Board of Appeals so they could grant you the right to rebuild.”

Instead of presenting barriers to Heuser’s plans, Board Chair Deb D’Amico said the letter appeared to be offering advice on the best way to move forward.

“You got some very clear information on what he suggest you do,” she said.

D’Amico added that the board intended to move forward with the plan presented by Newton regarding the inspection of the building and report on what should be done with it.

“I would say, that you have until the end of November, as the owner, to take that structure down and come to the building inspector with a structural plan for what you would like to do,” said D’Amico. “If, by the end of November, you have not taken the structure down, we will hear from the building inspector, the fire chief, and the third party at our Dec. 5 meeting regarding their recommendations for what needs to happen with that building.”

The Selectboard chair told Heuser that he was welcome to attend that meeting, to which he replied, “More than likely, it will be my attorney.”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.