March 5th, 2007

Planning and Development Committee Public Hearing

Senator Coleman, co-chairman

Representative Feltman, co-chairman

In Support of RE: HB-7220: an Act concerning the preservation of historic barns and agricultural structures

My name is Todd Levine and I am the Preservation Services Officer for the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, which was chartered by the Connecticut General Assembly in 1975 with a number of specified purposes, but most prominently to stimulate the preservation and protection of Connecticut’s historically and architecturally significant buildings and cultural landscapes. The Connecticut Trust is a non-profit, incorporated historic preservation organization, with 3000 members and affiliates across the state.

I am also co-director of one of the CT Trust’s projects, which is titled: "Historic Barns of Connecticut". The goal of this project is to document all of Connecticut’s historic barns state-wide. We have documented nearly 700 barns so far and are now recruiting non-profit organizations, municipalities and volunteers to do their part in surveying historic barns and agricultural buildings in their own town. I have personally surveyed and documented more than 150 barns, thus permitting me the opportunity to be out in the field and get a feel for what problems our constituents are facing.

We are losing our historic barns at an alarming rate. According to the National Agriculture Statistics Service from USDA, there were 25,000 barns in CT in the 1920. In 2002, there were less than 5,000. (This is only for working farms making or able to make $1,000.00 per year.) Demolition by neglect, followed closely by demolition by design for development are the primary culprits.

Raised Bill 7220 proposes real solutions to some of the problems faced by private owners of historic barns. One of these solutions is that 'zoning regulations may be made with reasonable consideration for the protection of historic factors, including the protection of historic barns and agricultural structures'. A major obstacle faced by private owners of historic barns is that there are restrictions on what they can do with it. As it stands now, zoning regulations in many of the Connecticut’s towns and cities do NOT allow for re-use of these outbuildings. You can’t put an office in the barn, or an apartment for your teenage kid or mother-in law. It doesn’t make sense for a person to put $50,000.00 of there own money to rehabilitate an historic barn when all you can use it for is as a garage or storage for your lawn mower. I have a constituent in Bethel, CT who wanted to put an office in his historic barn and he was flatly denied by the town. The town even went so far as to have him sign an affidavit saying that he would not put anything in the barn except cars and lawn equipment when he applied for a permit to upgrade the electrical service in the barn.

Another solution that is in this bill is an 'exemption, by ordinance, from property tax for any historic barns or agricultural buildings'. Right now, there are people out there who are getting taxed on the square footage for their historic barns. I have one constituent in Middlebury who has an historic barn on a working farm and he is getting taxed on 5,000 square feet. He’s paying $60,000.00 this year on taxes for a barn and $125,000.00 on his 150 acres. A third of his taxes are on a single historic barn. I have another constituent, an elderly widow in Lebanon, who rents her land out for farming at $ 50.00 an acre a year ( the same she made in the 1980’s) and although her historic barn is in disrepair and underutilized, she is getting taxed for it. She can barely make ends meet. An exemption from property tax on her historic barn would go a long way to helping her survive. The money she could save with a tax exemption could go into rehabilitating the barn.

Another important issue noted in this bill is an expansion of regulations to 'include historic barns and agricultural buildings to be recognized as important historic structures'. Right now, there are no protections for historic barns like there are for some historic buildings. For instance, certain towns may have a demolition delay ordinance, which kicks in for buildings 50 years old or older that are listed on an historic resources inventory. When a demolition permit is applied for, being listed on this inventory raises a red flag and the delay kicks in, allowing for discussion for alternatives to demolition. Often times, developers don't realize the value of historic structures and a compromise can be made. With this bill, historic barns and agricultural buildings can share in these protections.

Lastly, this bill proposes a program of grants to owners of historic barns. There are already some granting programs in place for historic structures, which could include barns, but they are exclusively for non-profit organizations and municipalities. Most of the people I come in contact with simply do not qualify for these programs. That being said, the CT Trust has the ability, through our charter, to work with the private sector. Thus the CT Trust offers its service to work together with the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and the Commission of Agriculture to facilitate and administer these grants, if needed.

The historic barn is a Connecticut icon. When one thinks of CT, one thinks of rolling hills, covered bridges and the big, red barn. If we don’t act NOW to preserve our heritage, in 100 years there won’t be any barns left. I urge this committee to support Raised Bill 7220.

Thank you.

Todd Levine
Preservation Services Officer