Published: October 26, 2009 01:41 pm      

Preservation of structures continues

Commission has site inspection of buildings

ALBION — The next step in saving two downtown Albion buildings was taken Saturday when the Albion Historical Preservation Commission visited the site of 105-107 North Main St. The two connected buildings have been the talk of the town as word spread that they are close to collapsing.

David Snell is the owner of 107 North Main St., where he runs a real estate office. The other address, 105 North Main St., is owned by Gary and Denise Withey, where Fischer’s News Stand is operated.

“Never did we think we’d be in this position,” said Gary Withey. “It’s devastating.”

According to Withey, after purchasing the building seven years ago, he knew the day would come when they would need to put a new roof on it.

Last spring the couple took out a loan for it and were also approached by the Albion Main Street Alliance about a Restore New York grant. Though it was not guaranteed, the couple was excited about the opportunity to really fix the building up.

Withey said they were suppose to find out about the grant in June, but didn’t learn that they did not get it until the end of September.

“We were devastated,” he said.

The reason for that was while they were waiting for the grant they had to have work done on the building. They found out that the building needed a lot more than just putting a roof on it. The 1828 building could need a new exterior wall facing Main Street to hold the new roof, along with other major work.

Approaching the commission two months ago, Snell and the Witheys need approval for any exterior work.

“This is a lot more serious than anyone could have realized,” Withey said. “We have limited funds. What we’re proposing to do is not historical. We’re not happy with it but it’s what we feel we have to do to save this building and obviously our business.”

If the commission does not approve the plans, Withey fears that will be the end for his business. He said the building will be condemned and they will be done.

Saturday’s visit brought members of a commission sub-committee to the properties to view the structure for themselves.

“The purpose of this site visit was just to assess the building,” said chair Thom Jennings. “See it first hand.”

He said the committee will review the engineer’s report and combine it with the visual evidence and report back to the commission with their findings.

Jennings urges that it is not the commission that is standing in the way of getting the building fixed. He said the paperwork for the certificate of appropriateness that the building will need has not yet been completed and the commission has not seen the blueprints for what they want to do with the building. Because of this, they do not have anything to vote on yet.

“At the end of the day, the preservation commission is certainly not standing in the way of anything because we don’t really have anything to stand in the way of,” Jennings said.

According to Withey, an engineer is working on the blueprints that will go to code enforcement, and the commission will then have to approve or disapprove of them.

Once they have everything, Jennings said he will call a special meeting to vote on this issue.

Contact reporter Rikki Cason at 798-1400, ext. 8227.