MALTA [New York] — The blue-and-gold metal historic marker cast for the 200-year-old Alexander Weed house has been sitting in the highway department’s garage for five years, gathering dust.
It’s a $700 reminder of a bungled attempt at a town honor proffered, which the owner of the landmark structure on the corner of Old Post Road and North Line Road rejected.
In 2004, town officials assumed the owner would be pleased to have the house designated as a landmark, as the vast majority are. A protracted process for historic designation was sidestepped and the owner, worried about being saddled with strict preservation restrictions, nixed the plan. The town decided not to go forward. The sign went into storage.
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“It’s very dangerous and I don’t want anyone to get hurt if something falls,” said the property’s owner, Marianne Pompa, who also is a co-owner of the family’s stone quarry in Saratoga Springs.
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Today, Pompa’s uncle lives across from the house. She and her brother live just up the road. She’s still rankled that the town had the sign made and was preparing to install it without consulting her.
“They should have talked with me beforehand,” she said.
Read the full article by Paul Grondahl in the April 18, 2009 edition of the Times Union.
Thanks to Pat Morrow for bringing this to my attention.
