The appeal is to the zoning officer’s decision that the repairs completed at the Colonial Inn were insufficient to satisfy the repair order issued pursuant to the “prevention of demolition by neglect” provisions of the zoning ordinance.
The property is located at 153 West King Street in Hillsborough.
Margaret Hauth, Planning Director of Hillsborough, said that after a
complaint arose under the revised ordinance, the planning department gave him a list of 12 repairs to make by the end of last year.
The town has stated that the owner, Francis Henry, needed to bring the building into compliance or that the town would be forced to take legal action.
Henry has filed an appeal and the Board of Adjustment will review it
Wednesday evening.
Henry will be unable to attend the meeting, but the board might decide to grant him an extension in his absence.
Henry purchased the property at a foreclosure auction in 2002.
Currently, the property is zoned as a residential, single-family occupancy.
Henry now lives in the top portion of the inn.
“He has not applied to re-zone the inn for any other use,” said Hauth.
The inn was built in 1838 and throughout the mid-1900s, it served as a boarding residence, tourist hotel and dining facility and attracted visitors from all over.
Nancy Baity, a former Hillsborough resident, is nostalgic about her
memories of the inn.
Baity said: “I used to work at the Colonial Inn as a waitress. I was in the eighth grade, in 1968, before my family moved to Florida. It was my first job ever. I can't believe it's in such disrepair. It has such historical value.”
Pictures of the inn from it’s most flourishing period in the twentieth
century show a two-story, nine-bay façade striking for its balcony
over the whole length of the front porch, both of which are supported by handsome paired columns.
The memory of this historic landmark is now just that for the town of Hillsborough.
What stands now a decrepit building in dire need of repair.
A yellow fungus devours a drainpipe near rows of uneven and decaying siding. Sheets of tar paper bandage old windows and some flaps act as rodent doggie-doors.
Joe Otto, a manger for the visitor’s center at the Alliance for
Historic Hillsborough, said that the inn holds a special place in many residents' hearts
“It is a hot-button issue for many people here in Hillsborough,” said
Otto. “I still hear people reminiscing about eating Sunday brunch
there years ago.”
If the board does rule in favor of the Hillsborough planning staff on
Wednesday they will move forward with legal action.
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