NEW SCOTLAND — News that the LeVie barn was slated to come down for future development fanned the flames of a public interest in rescuing the historic building, said New Scotland Councilman Daniel Mackay, and last-minute buyers may still save the day.

“Seeing the barn come down in ruin— I think we have some strong possibilities of not having to deal with that outcome,” Mackay told the New Scotland Town Board last week. “Four parties have toured the barn in the last two weeks.”

Mackay said that an Enterprise “article two weeks ago was catalytic and has resulted in a number of calls and inquiries from people who are interested in assessing…and relocating the barn, or facilitating a local save here in New Scotland.

“There also has been interest,” Mackay continued, “by parties who have interest and experience about relocating the structure nearby, but out of town.” Others have contacted him about moving the barn out of state, he said.

Mackay said that he was contacted by a “downstate television producer to feature the ‘save’ as a potential television show. The article catalyzed the event.”

The massive barn, built in 1898, is located on Route 85A; it is 120 feet long and 60 feet high. It has been estimated it would cost half of a million dollars to move it.

One of the possible rescuers may be “relocating the barn to a property very close by…to keep the barn very close to where it was built,” said Mackay.

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy on Wednesday told The Enterprise that the county is one of the parties interested in saving the barn from demolition.

“I’ve been working with Albany County Legislator Mike Mackey and the town board in New Scotland,” McCoy said. “We’re looking at options of moving the barn to the Helderberg park or the Altamont Fair for economic development,” he said, referring to the Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail that runs from Albany to Voorheesville and passes the LeVie Barn within a few thousand feet — ideas that had been dismissed in earlier discussions.

The barn was on the town board’s February agenda to amend the resolution between the town; the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation; and its Office of Parks, Recreation, and Preservation; and Country Club Partners, which owns the property, to address additional requirements by the developer, Supervisor Thomas Dolin said. The agreement requires historical mitigation, such as documentation with measurements of the structure and photos, occur before the barn can be taken down or removed.

The amendment “doesn’t accelerate the timeline,” Mackay said; the deadline is Feb. 28.

Councilman Mackay serves as the director of public policy at the Preservation League of New York State. Mackay abstained from the initial town board vote in January, and the one last week regarding the historical mitigation, due to the nature of his “close personal relationship” with the barn’s history and his professional interests, he said. 

Local residents voiced concerns to The Enterprise about a possible link between New York State Senator George Amedore, of the family-owned Amedore Homes, and the owners of the LeVie barn property, Country Club Partners, whose sale of the lot may be contingent on the barn’s removal. The land may become part of the Kensington Woods development on Route 85A outside of Voorheesville.

Eileen Miller, George Amedore’s director of communications, said that Amedore Homes is developing Country Club Estates, located just up the road from the barn, and that the two companies with similar names are different, unrelated entities.

“They don’t own the land that the barn is on,” Miller reiterated.

At this time, Amedore Homes is not publicly discussing a plan to buy the barn property — the sale of which has been delayed because of the investigation into the barn’s historicity.

“I’m not aware of that,” said John Bossalini of any interest Amedore Homes might have in developing the land now owned by Country Club Partners. “It may be a conversation I’m not privy to,” Bossalini, of Amedore Homes’s land development office, told The Enterprise.

Other business

In other business, the town board:

— Adopted Local Law 1 of 2015 for flood damage protection. The law complies with model flood plain regulations for new development specified by Federal Emergency Management Agency and other environmental programs.

“The town chose to use the most protective measures,” said Town Attorney Michael Naughton. “This was triggered by mapping of flood plains. This is required for the town to be able to participate in FEMA programs”;

— Amended its existing contract with the town of Bethlehem for the New Salem Water District.

“We’re using bigger pumps to fill the tank faster,” said town engineer R. Mark Dempf. He said that flow has changed, but not the volume;

— Learned that the town has an official Facebook page, on which updates for local events and projects are listed.

“It looks nice,” said Town Clerk Diane Deschenes.

“Have you ‘liked’ it, yet?” Dolin asked Councilman Douglas LaGrange.

“Yeah,” LaGrange replied;

— Agreed to allow local residents, including the New Scotland Kiwanis, to host a townwide volunteer day on Saturday, May 2.

Janna Shillinglaw, of the Kiwanis, told the board that the organization’s insurance would cover the event, but that several non-members are also involved. The town board agreed that the group can host a barbecue at Town Hall, and use two town-provided drivers and trucks for the volunteer-led clean-up day;

— Agreed to enter an agreement with the village of Voorheesville to pay up to $2,500 to share the purchase of a speed-display trailer expected to cost $5,000. The display trailer will not be able to record license plates, and it will not record speeds. The device will have a set upper speed limit that it can display, so that dare-devil speeders cannot test it.

“It’s not there for law enforcement” to give tickets,” said Albany County Sheriff’s Investigator Tracy Mance, who attended the town board meeting as a community liaison. The display is to remind drivers who are not paying attention what their speeds are, she said; and
— Heard Dolin read a resolution for the New Salem Fire Department Auxiliary’s 50th anniversary to show the “gratitude and respect of friends, family, and the entire community” for the auxiliary’s “supporting the fire department,” and “for improving the quality of our community.”