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| E.S. Turner House, formerly located at 704 S. 1st. Avenue in Phoenix. Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox unlawfully tore down the 105-year-old house near downtown, a mistake she admits making while trying to help clean up her neighborhood. |
The pair failed to ask the city for a demolition permit, which would have flagged its historic designation and thwarted its destruction, the report said.
Historic-preservation officials have sent the findings to the city prosecutor's office, which could issue a civil citation or press criminal charges, punishable with jail time, probation and fines. Members of a historic-preservation board, meanwhile, say they could work to strengthen city codes to guarantee this doesn't happen again.
"This is a precedent," said historic-preservation officer Barbara Stocklin. "We need to really try to maximize the penalties to provide a deterrent from this happening again."
City officials don't recall another case in which a historic home has been demolished. The loss of the Victorian-style home at 704 S. First Ave. leaves only 25 19th-century homes on the city's historic register.
Mary Rose Wilcox this week said she and her husband were unaware the 1899 house just south of downtown was historic.
But the investigation says city officials in 2002 legally notified the Wilcoxes, who own a Mexican restaurant two doors down from the now-empty lot, of the historic zoning for the property.
"This evidence suggests that Mr. Wilcox was legally informed . . . and, as such, was aware of its historically designated status."
Mary Rose said, "That's not true," adding that they never received the notice. She also said the E.S. Turner house was falling apart and had turned into a crack house, "the worst kind of house any neighborhood could have."
The report disputes that through photos and other documentation, saying, "the house appeared extremely intact."
The Wilcoxes have hired an attorney, who declined comment on the case. They tore down the house in August after buying it earlier in the summer, drawing criticism from the public. They said they plan to build a house there in the heart of Hispanic Grant Park neighborhood at First Avenue and Grant Street, where Earl grew up and the couple operate El Portal restaurant and a boxing gym.
Historic-preservation Commissioner John Jaquemart said the Wilcoxes should help finance a restoration project in the neighborhood as their punishment.
Commissioner Reid Butler said the case is an illustration of why the city's historic-preservation ordinances should be strengthened.
The Wilcoxes could face thousands of dollars in fines each if prosecutors pursue a civil case.
If criminal charges are filed, they could be convicted of a misdemeanor with fines and up to six months in jail and three months of probation, city prosecutors have said.
Mary Rose Wilcox, a former Phoenix councilwoman who called for tougher demolition rules in the late 1980s to protect historic structures, said she had no malicious intent: "We were just cleaning up the neighborhood."
