Community Corner
Cross Lowered Down from IHM Bell Tower
The bell tower will be taken down in sections; the project should take most of the day to complete.
Construction crews carefully lowered the cross from the top of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church bell tower this morning, and will continue to remove sections of the tower throughout the day.
During a building inspection Thursday, structural engineers discovered dry rot and termite damage in the church's bell tower and the City of Belmont building inspectors deemed the building unsafe.
The scaffolding manager for Safway Scaffolding told Patch this morning that the cross would be the first thing removed from the tower. After that, crews will be cutting holes on the front and back of the tower to insert slings (chains), which will be pulled upward by the crane to take tension off the structure. They will then start cutting the tower in 10-14-foot sections until the entire structure is removed.
The foreman explained that the wooden stabilizing beams on each side of the tower had rotted out, thus compromising the safety of the building.
He expects the process to take most of the day.
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