One man?s historic barn is another?s pile of rotting wood.
So says Baltimore County Councilman Bryan McIntire, who this week criticized county administrators? plans to accept a barn donated by Owings Mills investment firm T. Rowe Price. The barn ? which the county must pay to dismantle and move ? is little more than a heap of unmarked and uncleaned planks that could cost exponentially more than its worth to reassemble, he said.
“This is a total waste of taxpayers? money,” McIntire said. “Even worse than that, the agricultural community has been totally ignored. Totally excluded.”
Under county law, the council must vote to approve gifts; this one is valued at $20,650. The council was expected to accept the barn at its meeting Monday evening, but lawmakers tabled the vote after McIntire said the structure has already been dismantled and moved in apparent violation of the law.
Administrators are encouraging approval. That barn is an “important artifact” that will be reconstructed at the future agricultural center in Hunt Valley, said county spokesman Don Mohler.
The barn?s disassembled planks have been cleaned, catalogued and labeled, Mohler said, contrary to McIntire?s claims.
“Having the barn donated to Baltimore County appeared to be a logical choice given the way that agricultural center is going to be utilized,” Mohler said.
T. Rowe Price needed to remove the barn from a 38-acre parcel adjacent to its Owings Mills campus to accommodate an expansion, said company spokesman Robert Benjamin.
After agreeing to donate the barn to a Carroll County farm museum ? at no cost to the company ? Baltimore County expressed interest, he said.
T. Rowe Price eventually agreed to donate the barn to Baltimore County and pay for half of transportation costs.
The move, he said, is far more expensive than simply razing the barn.
“If it doesn?t get moved and it comes to us knocking it down, it would cost us next to nothing,” Benjamin said. “To the extent someone wants it and we?re paying half the cost, I think we?re doing the right thing.”
