BETHLEHEM — The town has begun work to try and save an iconic barn that stands at the corner of Route 9W and Wemple Road.
The farm structures, once part of Heath’s Dairy, were acquired as part of 307 acres the town recently purchased — one of the largest municipal land purchases in the Hudson Valley in recent years.
The town’s open space preservation effort was forced to a public vote last fall through a petitioning process, which became controversial after the Albany County Farm Bureau came out against the plan, saying the town’s messaging was misleading because it did not help farmers currently working their lands. However, voters approved the purchase last November – clearing the way for the town to work on the barn.
Bethlehem Supervisor David VanLuven said town workers recently cleared overgrown vegetation and “accumulated debris” from the barn, and that the town will work to secure the site and shore up the roof, which has holes in it. “As we’ve seen in many old buildings, once the roof goes, the rest of the building soon follows,” VanLuven wrote in an email to the Times Union
A “community planning effort ” will then be started to figure out what to do with the 307 acres, much of which borders the state Thruway, as well as the barn. Talk has centered around making the barn some type of local market – but that would take private or nonprofit involvement, something the town is willing to brainstorm, the supervisor said.
“The bottom line: We do not want to tear down the barn,” VanLuven said. “The structure is both historic and iconic, and the town is working hard to save it after years of neglect.”
Glenmont resident Chris Smith, 65, who grew up drinking milk from the farm, stopped at the barn last week after seeing work being done around it. He was relieved to find out that the town said it is trying to save the structure.
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