Milford City Council approved a request from the Milford Historical Society for a conditional use that will allow them to construct a barn-style structure on the Parson Thorne Mansion property. Council also granted a parking lot waiver as an additional request.
“The Milford Historical Society wants to add a 2,000 square foot support building on the Parson Thorne property,” John Roach, engineer for the project said. “This is a building that has been there a very long time, and they want to enhance it with this addition.”
Councilman Jason James asked what artifacts would be stored in the building, pointing out that Milford had a rich, colorful and sometimes controversial history.
“We will be storing artifacts similar to what you already see when you visit the mansion,” Terry Rogers, a trustee for the Milford Historical Society said. “We have to replicas of the mansion given to us by volunteers that we wish to display. We also have portraits and clothing we want to store safely. We are currently working on a project that will provide insight into some of the diversity on the plantation as well.”
Councilwoman Nina Pletcher asked what the timeframe for construction was and how the building was funded.
“We received a large grant from the state that has covered a large portion of the costs,” Rogers said. “Of course, we always welcome additional funds, but the majority of the costs for this project were covered by state grants. We hope to break ground later this year. We have had a few hoops to jump through to get to this point.”
As for the parking waiver, Roach explained that parking had always been managed in a circular area at the far side of the property and that requiring curbing as well as extensive parking would detract from the historic look of the building.
“I would just like to thank all of the volunteers and all of the docents that work to protect the history, the very long and complicated history, of Milford,” Councilwoman Nadia Zychal said. “Also, all of the past lives who contributed to the layers of history in Milford. I think this could be a great asset to the city.”
Both the conditional use and the parking waiver passed unanimously.
