Steamboat Springs - Having failed in attempts to relocate the historic Butterfly Barn on Mount Werner Road, the city of Steamboat Springs will consider a proposal from the developers of Wildhorse Meadows that would let the barn stay put.

At tonight’s Steamboat Springs City Council meeting, developers will present their preferred plan for the barn, which is to leave it in place and surround it with interpretive trails and signage.

An alternative proposal is to deconstruct the barn and use any salvageable material in the construction of the Wildhorse Meadows plaza. The city planning staff and the Historic Preservation Advisory Commission support the first option.

In 2006, the Steamboat Springs City Council ex­­pressed concerns that the Wildhorse Meadows development would dwarf the barn and asked that efforts be made to move it. The city’s advisory committee for redevelopment at the base of the Steamboat Ski Area originally had hoped to relocate the barn to the grassy knoll at Mount Werner Road and Mount Werner Circle, but failed in negotiations with the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel’s homeowners association, which owns the land.

“We couldn’t find a good spot for it that would work for everybody,” said Joe Kracum, the city’s redevelopment coordinator for the base area.

The city also considered moving the barn between Central Park Plaza and Mount Werner Road by the Village Inn and at the intersection of Mount Werner and Pine Grove roads.

“They weren’t perfect sites for visibility or for making it an icon at the entrance to the base area,” Kracum said.

Pam Duckworth, chairwoman of the Historic Preservation Advisory Com­mission, said the commission strongly supports leaving the barn in place.

“Moving historic buildings makes them ineligible for listings on (historic) registers,” Duckworth said. “It’s frowned upon and pretty much done as a last resort.”

While the barn’s rural context is quickly evaporating around it, Duckworth said the proposal to incorporate the barn is much preferred to a deconstruction.

“It’s happening all over the state and the country that development is infringing on historic areas and historic structures,” she said. “Hopefully there’s enough room that there can be a buffer and it can stand out.”

Also today, the City Council will consider the first reading of an ordinance that would reconfigure the city’s Local Liquor License Authority into two divisions: administrative and compliance.

The proposal would require the city to contract with a hearing officer to review all liquor violations and failed compliance check violations.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Articles, Steamboat Springs. You can skip to the end and leave a response.