AUGDON HOUSE Move home to village site, panel says

Some residents don't want the home to be moved to their neighborhood.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- Village officials may be one step closer to finding the Augdon House on U.S. Route 224 a new home.
The historic Augdon House has been a fixture on Main Street for more than 150 years and is thought to have first belonged to a well-respected village cabinetmaker in the mid-1800s.
The home and property on which it sits have been purchased by John Scotford Jr., chairman of the McBarscot Co., who wants to build condominiums on the site.
Scotford says the house must go and he has a demolition permit in hand. He must wait until early October, however, before razing the structure.
Members of the Poland Preservation Society have been fighting to save it while council and members of the village planning commission are deciding what to do with it.
Planning commission members unanimously voted this week to recommend to council that the building be moved across the street to village-owned property on Green Meadows Place.
Rebecca Rogers, planning commission and preservation society member, said the recommendation was based on a visionary statement endorsed by council in the late 1990s. Preserving older buildings was part of the statement, she said.
Hot topic
The idea of moving the house to Green Meadows Place had been a topic of discussion among village officials, leading to opposition from homeowners on Green Meadows. The homeowners previously told council that deed restrictions on the village-owned property would prevent the house from being moved there.
Mayor Ruth Wilkes said research by Village Solicitor Damian DeGenova shows the property is to be held as park property for the village, but says nothing that would strictly prohibit a building from being placed on the property.
She said the planning commission, because of the park stipulation, suggested the building not be rented out for any purpose if it is moved to the village-owned property.
"We just want to see the house preserved and moved because it is so important to the fabric of the village," she said.
A spokesman for the homeowners on Green Meadows Place has also said court action is a possibility should the village allow the house to be moved to the property. Rogers said any such action would be a concern.
"Any lawsuit is a concern because it is expensive and time consuming and does not make good neighbors," she said. "Being litigious is just not good for anyone."
The preservation society said it would bear the moving cost if the house is moved to the village property, but that cannot be done without council's approval. Council will hear the recommendation at its meeting Tuesday.
jgoodwin@vindy.com