The Southbury Historical Society came before the Zoning Board of Appeals on August 4 asking for a special exception to allow restoration of the early 19th-century barn presented to the society by Marie Ludorf for use as a museum.

The building is located at 502 West Purchase Road, contiguous with a parcel of 49 acres of rolling pasture donated to the Southbury Land Trust under a conservation easement which ensures its preservation for agricultural use in perpetuity.

Speaking in favor of approval of the application, Land Trust President Tom Crider testified to the value to the town that the Ludorf bequest and the participation of the Historical Society signifies.

The application came with the blessing of a Planning Commission referral which found that the project satisfies the goals of the Plan of Conservation and Development and that the proposal is permitted under the zoning regulations subject to obtaining a special exception.

Society President Don Meyer presented the facts of the case, simply that the intent is to retrofit the circa 1820 building as a barn museum for display of the collection of 19th- and 20th-century farm implements included in the Ludorf bequest.

The building itself would become a teaching tool in the study of traditional barn construction. There would be seasonal demonstrations of tools and equipment, and programs for children would be developed.

All the usual land use issues were satisfactorily addressed: parking, traffic, number of events anticipated, hours of operation, sight lines, signage, etc.

Called upon for his review, Fire Marshal Henry Stormer said that, professionally speaking, he had 50 or more objections (Gasps!), starting with the fact that there were no exit doors, no emergency lights, no sprinklers.

"A barn door is not an exit door," he advised. What if boiled down to was that an 1840 structure is not the ideal configuration for a 21st-century museum in a rural area and doesn't even come close to meeting 21st-century fire codes.

But all was not lost; Mr. Stormer lightened up and offered to confer with Mr. Meyer to work out a solution. He would help in any way.

At the worst, the Historical Society might need to get a permit from the State Fire Marshal's office, and that was definitely doable.

The ZBA voted to approve the application contingent on satisfactorily meeting all concerns raised by the fire marshal.

More complicated was an application from Joseph McAllister to build a 21,600 square-foot equestrian barn on a 14-acre site approximately 840 feet back from Main Street North in a residential district.

The use is intended for horse training, with 36 stalls, two tack rooms, an office and a bathroom. Parking is provided for two to four employees and three to four visitors per day. No shows are planned, according to the statement of use.

At its July meeting, the Planning Commission worked on its referral to ZBA and came up short on several criteria, one of which was the fact that a 52-inch Sycamore tree would be removed because otherwise the building, as designed, would encroach on a designated wetlands area.

The Historical Tree Restoration Committee was asked to evaluate the value of the tree and came back with a strongly worded recommendation to preserve a "spectacular" example of a vanishing species that was structurally sound, standing 80 feet tall.

That evaluation was enough for ZBA to send the proposal back to the drawing board for reconsideration of the site location, keeping in mind the wetlands area demarcation.

Mr. Stormer, on a busy night out for him, when asked for his expertise, pointed to the 840 feet of driveway and noted, for starters, that the fire code would require the construction of "pull-offs" every 300 feet to allow emergency vehicles to access the site.

All of which was enough to persuade the ZBA to continue the public hearing until September.

In the meantime, Planning's referral to engineering consultants Milone & MacBroome, upon which its own ZBA referral depends, is stalled pending revision of the site plan.