Representatives of Mohonk Preserve, Inc. were back before the Town of New Paltz Planning Board last week for further discussions of their site plan and special use application for the Brook Farmhouse on the property.
Ryan Weitz, a senior staff engineer with planning and consulting firm Barton & Loguidice, D.P.C., addressed restoration concerns during the meeting held on Monday, January 22, including six key points detailed in a January 5 letter from Sara McIvor, historic site restoration coordinator for the Division for Historic Preservation of the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP). McIvor noted that the material submitted by the applicants was reviewed in accordance with the New York State Historic Preservation Act of 1980, specifically Section 14.09, relating to historic and cultural resources.
In the letter, McIvor suggested the following measures:
1. Professional documentation of barns 1-4.
2. Disassembly of barns 2-4 and salvage of intact building components to either be reused on site or donated to salvage organizations.
3. Continued consultation with our office to review the design of the proposed maintenance building.
4. Continued consultation with our office to review the stabilization and renovation of barn
No. 1.
5. Keeping the historic wood windows of the Brook Farmhouse in lieu of replacement.
6. Salvaging and reuse of intact wood flooring in the Brook Farmhouse.
Weitz said the measures made sense…for the most part.
“We are fully, fully on board with five of those items and potentially all six,” he said. “The one, and I don’t even want to characterize it as a sticking point, but it’s the preservation of the existing, the historic wood windows in the farmhouse.”
There are around two dozen windows on the farmhouse, and while it makes sense in the interest of preservation to keep them, Weitz said, there are other issues at play.
“One of the main objectives of the redevelopment of the Brook Farmhouse, is to look at an energy efficient project that’s removing the propane tank, going to an electric heat source, increasing energy efficiency, and in fact, we’ve secured funding through NYSERDA to implement that mission of energy efficiency,” Weitz said. “So there is kind of that balance between historic preservation and then energy efficiency.”
Instead, project managers suggested six-over-six wood windows with aluminum cladding that would look like the original frames but would be energy efficient.
Brook Farmhouse is a 2,850-sq. ft. 19th-century, two-story wood frame house with basement and one-story addition sitting in farm fields on the 836-acre preserve acquired for permanent protection a decade ago. In 2022, plans were announced to rehabilitate and renovate the farmhouse into the new home of the Daniel Smiley Research Center in honor of the late conservationist and founding member of the Mohonk Preserve.
Developers are seeking a single comprehensive SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review) for the planned two phases of the project, as opposed to focusing on the first phase. Phase one includes the adaptive redevelopment of the farmhouse for the research center’s conservation and education programs, as well as a septic enlargement plan.
Phase two of the project would be focused east of the farmhouse and would include a six bay run-in pole barn, a three-bay maintenance garage, office space, cold storage, a salt shed, a small interpretive kiosk, electric vehicle recharging stations and a range of associated infrastructure. Phase two construction would take into account the historic farmhouse, Weitz said.
The Mohonk Preserve leadership and staff will hold an information session to discuss the Brook Farm complex rehabilitation project on Thursday, February 8, 5:30 p.m., at the Mohonk Preserve Visitor Center at 3197 Route 44/55 in Gardiner. RSVP to info@mohonkpreserve.org.
The project is set to return to the planning board at its next meeting, scheduled for Monday, February 12.
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