Hotchkiss Project May Continue
Louise Hoffman Broach | Wayuga Editor
Tuesday, July 22 2008
LYONS - The Wayne County Board of Supervisors has agreed to begin negotiating with the Western Erie Canal Alliance to operate the H.G. Hotchkiss Essential Oil Building after a $1 million renovation is completed on the historic structure.
The decision was made July 15, after about 40 people, including representatives from the Preservation League of New York State and the Landmark Society of Western New York, packed the room. They implored the board that the building was part of the historical fabric of Lyons and all of Wayne County as well as the international peppermint industry.
The renovation will be paid for with grant dollars, but supervisors have said they wouldn’t move ahead unless another entity accepted responsibility for future maintenance of the building.
Wayne County IDA Director Peg Churchill is also the head of the canal alliance. She said the organization sees a future for the Hotchkiss Building as an interpretive center. Others, including Duncan Hilchey, an agriculture researcher from Cornell University, said the building has the potential to spotlight other aspects of farming in Wayne County as well.
The Board of Supervisors will have to vote again, if the county and the canal alliance can reach an agreement.
The Preservation League is one of the organizations providing grant dollars. Tania Werbizky, representing the league, was at the meeting to stress that saving the building was deemed so important that the league agreed to make it a priority and allocate funding. “Opportunities like this are amazingly once in a lifetime,” Howk said. “The H.G. Hotchkiss building is of modest appearance, but its significance is like no other industrial-commercial building in Wayne County or the entire Erie Canal corridor.”
In other action July 15:
*A $251,000 contract was approved with DeWolf Partnership for design services related to the proposed Amtrak station for Lyons. The state Department of Transportation is looking at whether platforms will interfere with CSX freight traffic.
*Worked moved ahead to move part of the sheriff’s department and other county departments to the old nursing home. A contract for schematic design for $167,800 was approved with SWBR Associates. The whole plan is estimated to cost the county $17 million
*The hearing on the allocation of Empire Zone lands for Parker Hannifin’s planned expansion on Route 31 in Galen was reset for 9:05 a.m. July 28.
| No previous subhead |
| |
No next subhead |
No comments have been posted.
|
