Only photographs and other documentation are likely to remain as evidence of the historic Hilton barn after this summer. Relocation costs are proving too great for the massive post and beam structure.
New Scotland Town Board members on Wednesday, Jan. 14, lamented over the fate of the Hilton barn, commonly known as the LeVie barn, because local officials appear no closer to finding a new home for the building despite an impending deadline. Interested parties have inquired, but the barn’s large size and fittingly substantial relocation costs have cooled any prospects.
Board member Daniel Mackay previously estimated relocating the structure could cost at about $500,000. Mackay has led preservation efforts of the barn, which he called the “queen” of barns townwide.
“This is the issue that wakes me up at night,” Mackay emotionally said, “and leaves me awake at night thinking that we may not be able to do right by this structure, and that pains me.”
Country Club Partners received approvals last March to develop an 18-lot residential subdivision on a 22.4-acre property located off Maple Road. The developer and town agreed to conditions delaying the development of the lot holding the barn, with construction moving forward on the remaining lots.
The developer is legally required to offer the barn for free to the town for any relocation effort, but town officials must inform the property owner by Feb. 28 that it received such an offer. The town would then have until May 31 to deconstruct and relocate the barn.
“I’m still open to pulling a miracle out of the hat here,” said Mackay.
State funding had been eyed to cover preservation efforts, but economic development or a specific reuse must be tied to such funding, according to Mackay. “Simple relocation without viable reuse is a non-starter,” he said.
Town Supervisor Tom Dolin shared Mackay’s emotional concern for the barn.
“As a rural community in the county, barns are a part of our heritage,” said Dolin. “It’s unfortunate that somehow a long time ago, it didn’t get in public hands.”
Mackay restated how he originally reached out to a co-owner of Country Club Partners in October 2010 requesting access to the barn, but he wasn’t granted a site visit until December 2013.
“I do think that if we had earlier access to assess the integrity … (we) might have been able to done something,” he said.
The property owners have been accommodating to such requests since the first site visit, according to Mackay.
Country Club Partners, in a statement to The Spotlight last January, contended the company “cooperated with the town on every request they have made” and planned to continue cooperating with local officials.
The Town Board during its Wednesday, Jan. 14, meeting approved stipulations the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation prescribed prior dismantling or demolishing the barn.
State officials are requiring archival photographs to be taken and prepared for submission to a town entity, likely the historical society, and another copy that would be submitted to the state Archives.
