NEW SCOTLAND — The planning board last week waived a public hearing on the town’s application to install a foundation for the recently moved Hilton Barn off Route 85A.

“We’re under contract with the moving company,” said Councilman William C. Hennessy Jr., referring to Wolfe House and Building Movers of Pennsylvania. The town has 45 days from when the barn was moved from its original site, on March 29, to build a foundation to support the massive 60-by-120-foot barn, he said.

“In 45 days, the company will come back and set the barn down on the new foundation,” Hennessy said.

The project cost is roughly $200,000 for a new foundation, site preparation, and the land it will stand on, across Route 85A from the barn’s original location; it now stands next to the Albany County rail trail.  The town received grants totalling $175,000. The town is paying the remaining $25,000, and the not-for-profit Voorheesville Community and School Foundation is accepting donations to return to the town that $25,000.

In 1898, Joseph Hilton had Frank Osterhout build the barn on his farm. The land it was on is now owned by a developer who planned to tear it down. Hilton heirs agreed to sell an acre across Route 85A from where the barn had stood for over a century.

At last week’s planning board, engineers from Barton & Loguidice described the remainder of the project that will include site improvements like a gravel parking area, a trench system to move rainwater to the soil efficiently, and prevention of soil compaction. The barn placement is within all town-required setbacks, they said.

The planning board approved, with a vote of 4 to 0, a motion to waive a public hearing for the site plan for the foundation, with Jo Ann Davies, Justin Perry, Thomas Hart, and Daniel Leinung voting, and planning board Chairman Charles Voss, a Barton & Loguidice employee, recusing himself.

The board also issued a negative State Environmental Quality Review Act declaration for the foundation, meaning there are no significant environmental impacts, and approved the town’s site plan.

Hart noted that the action of waiving the hearing was limited to offsets of property lines for the foundation, but not related to future plans for a parking area or other site improvements.

Updated, April 13, 2016, after the bids were removed from the town board agenda Wednesday.