LONDONDERRY — The Heritage Commission has put a hold on demolishing a red barn at 2 Litchfield Road.
The commission voted to deny the demolition request, but specified that the property owner, Richard Flier, could bring the proposal to the board again in the future once certain conditions were met.
“At this point, we need to know not only what’s the current state of the building as required by the ordinance, but also what it would take to preserve the building at least from a point of view of being safe for the general public,” said Vice Chair Arthur Rugg.
The owners of the building say it needs hundreds of thousands of dollars in renovations.
Flier and his attorney, Laura Gandia, approached the board on Thursday night because the barn is in complete disarray, and has been deemed unsafe by Zoning Administrator Nick Codner and Assistant Building Inspector Brad Anderson.
“Only 17% of the building is viable according to the town,” Flier said. “Seventeen percent is physically viable and not rotted. It would cost about $700,000-plus to replace or restore that barn properly and there’s no income that would support it.
Chair Krystopher Kenney said while he believes both Codner and Anderson to be very good at their jobs in zoning and inspection, the town requires a registered architect or professional engineer that are registered with the state’s Office of Professional Licensing and Certification to submit the report.
“I think it would be somewhat irresponsible to go on a couple of opinions, despite the fact that I highly respect Nick Codner and I think he knows his stuff,” Kenney said. “But, our zoning regulations do state that there should be an engineer that looks at this.”
Flier is no stranger to coming before the commission and the Town Council asking for special requests with the barn, asking in 2018 for help with the property’s upkeep and in 2019 for permission to add decorations to the barn windows.
The main reason Flier needs permission for the barn’s demolition is because of the zoning ordinance where the property is located. The building is in a Commercial III zone, a town historic overlay, and has a historical easement that was placed in 2006.
The easement became the subject of discussion at a June 2023 Town Council meeting, where the town ultimately kept it. This makes it more difficult to update the exterior of the barn and building because renovations must meet the preservation standards of the easement.