SALISBURY — The Noble & Kelsey Funeral Home presented its plans to demolish an unused historic building to the Historic Preservation Commission on Thursday, which resulted in the HPC ordering the funeral home to wait 190 days and seek alternatives to demolition.

The HPC does not have the power to fully stop a proposed demolition, however it can implement up to a 365-day delay. The funeral home is required to go through the HPC because the property is located in the Downtown Local Historic District and is considered a contributing property.

Members of the HPC disagreed on both whether a delay should be implemented as well as how long a potential delay should be, so the 190-day delay represented a compromise between the members.

The demolition of the building, located at 225 E. Fisher St., as well as a detached garage behind the building was requested because both of the buildings have not been in use for years, with both having collapsed structures, said Noble & Kelsey CEO Kimberly Kelsey.

“It’s not a safe structure for anything anymore. I’m afraid for anybody to go in there and walk around or do anything,” said Kimberly Kelsey.

Kimberly Kelsey said that the funeral home hoped to demolish the building and construct extra parking in its place, as the company was experiencing serious parking issues during services.

Adrianna Kelsey, Noble & Kelsey’s director of community service and public relations, testified during the meeting that although the building in question was certainly old, having been built in 1929, it was not necessarily the “historic” building on the property. She said the other building, located at 223 E. Fisher St., was the more historic of the two, having been built in 1953 and serving as the “Negro Branch Library” and an agricultural building before the funeral home acquired it in 1970.

The funeral home operated out of the 1929 building before the acquisition of the former library building in 1970.

The company itself definitively has a storied history in Salisbury, with its founding in 1902 making it the second-oldest Black-owned funeral home in North Carolina. It was founded that year by barber W.F. Kelsey and Steven Noble, a hearse driver for another local funeral home, both of whom recognized the community’s need for a Black funeral home. W.F. Kelsey served as the home’s first mortician, with his wife Lula Kelsey later becoming the state’s first female mortician. The family has since branched out into the surrounding communities, with Kelsey Funeral Homes in Albemarle and Concord both being able to trace their roots to the Salisbury Kelseys.

“It is important to remember that this is still a family-owned business and we shouldn’t limit their ability to do business or make it more difficult for them to do business. Their history is important, but it’s also their history to choose what they want to do with it. I don’t feel that there even needs to be a stay. I’m very comfortable letting them choose what to do with the property because I trust them as an institution of Salisbury itself,” said commission member Spencer Dixon.

Douglas Hall, training supervisor and director support for the funeral home, said that they have had a problem with homeless people entering through the collapsed back of the garage and lighting fires for warmth and have had to board up all of the windows and doors of the main building to prevent people from entering. He also noted that the buildings had been marked with red X’s by the fire department, meaning that they had been deemed unsafe for emergency personnel.

Kimberly Stieg, executive director of the Historic Salisbury Foundation, said that while she was “very sympathetic” both to the Kelsey family’s history and the current issues with the building, she believed that the building could be saved by outside developers.

“We have developers all the time that are looking for buildings like this, that they are willing to invest in. And I know that you’re not really looking at that right now, but if you would be willing, we would love to work with you and see if there’s anything at all we can do to try to save the building. You would reap the rewards financially and save your family’s history,” said Stieg.

However, Kimberly Kelsey indicated that the funeral home did not wish to sell the property.

Commission members Sue McHugh and Schwartz supported implementing the full 365-day delay to allow time for HSF to find a potential developer and then for discussions between the two Noble & Kelsey to take place.

“I don’t know of any city who doesn’t regret tearing buildings down to build parking lots later, so I would give this the max (delay). If possible, I would have no issue with the garage being a faster demolition, but the main building, there are so many potential (solutions) to preserve this. And, for it to be such a historically significant site, for it to be demolished for parking is just heartbreaking,” said Schwartz.

McHugh said that she took issue with allowing the demolition to proceed so quickly because the primary mission of the HPC, in its simplest explanation, is to make sure that historic resources in the city are preserved.

“I’m particularly troubled when this commission is so eager to tear down historic properties. It’s our mission and we’ve been put into this position to preserve the historic fabric of this city. When we go, ‘I don’t care,’ I find that very troubling. I am not in favor of a short stay. If there are opportunities, and already one has been presented, I think it’s our duty to explore that,” said McHugh.

Although commission member Will James did not put a specific number on the delay he wished to see, he did say that he supported delaying the demolition in hopes of seeing the building restored.

“As the public, we have a limited interest in this property as it is a part of the fabric of historic Salisbury. You go out on Interstate 85 and you see signs that say ‘Historic Salisbury.’ We have a lot of history in this town and they’re part of it. I just think that now that we’re confronted with the possibility of having this demolished, we need to at least have the opportunity to explore options,” said James.

Commission chairperson Marcelo Menza supported a much shorter delay at 60 days, citing Hall’s liability concerns with people entering the buildings in their dangerous conditions as one of the main reasons. Dixon said that he did not wish to implement any delays.

“I’m looking at these pictures and I see a building that has some historic value, but the larger value is the family institution and what the family has done with the funeral home more than the building itself. The building is OK, it is certainly past its prime and will require quite a bit of renovation to make it look like something that is historically attractive. That’s my opinion, but I do see some value,” said Menza.

However, McHugh pointed out that between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons, it may be difficult for the HSF to coordinate with a developer, present the proposal to Noble & Kelsey and come to an agreement within only 60 days. As a compromise, McHugh proposed a delay of 190 days, which was put to a vote.

The commission members approved a delay of 190 days with a vote of three to two, with McHugh, Schwartz and James voting in favor of approval and Menza and Dixon voting against. Commission member Larry Richardson was excused from the vote and discussion for that item due to a conflict of interest.