Dougherty Commission approves funding for Mule Barn preservation project

ALBANY – The preservation of a historic downtown Albany structure got new life on Monday with the agreement by the Dougherty County Commission to fund an environmental study for the Mule Barn on West Broad Avenue.

The plan calls for shoring up the building, excavating and removing underground tanks from the site and soil testing.

Commissioners unanimously agreed to spend $130,750 from a previous special-purpose local-option sales tax to fund the project. The SPLOST account has some $430,000 that was earmarked for downtown redevelopment.

Built in 1923 as a structure for selling and purchasing mules, the property later was used as an auto garage and service facility.

Developers interested in the property previously have balked due to the presence of petroleum products in the soil, Lequrica Gaskins, downtown manager for the city of Albany, told commissioners.

“To remove that barrier, we are asking that the board remove that impediment,” Dougherty County Administrator Michael McCoy said. “This will allow us to address the tanks that are at the site. The proposal (also) will allow us to know what we’re cleaning up.”

Commissioner Anthony Jones asked Gaskins whether the city could seek grant money to fund the project.

Gaskins responded that a grant to cover environmental projects is available every two years, and the city had received one this year, meaning it is not eligible to apply for grant funding until next year.

The city could seek a grant in the future to cover the costs of removing contaminated soil and hazardous material, she said.

“They won’t know, with certainty, until they start digging up the concrete, what they will find,” Gaskins said. “This was a gas station. We just don’t know what’s there until we test it.”

Previously, there had been plans to renovate the building for the new site of the Albany Museum of Art. Those plans fell through, and the museum is moving into another historic downtown building on the same block.

Gaskins told county commissioners there is no firm plan for future use of the Mule Barn because of developers’ concerns over environmental issues.

The Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority holds the title to the property.

“(My) concern is spending county money on a project where we don’t have oversight,” Commissioner Russell Gray said.

The fate of the Mule Barn and its preservation was an issue when voters approved the SPLOST that included funding for the project, County Attorney Spencer Lee said.

“This is a preservation issue,” he said. “You can’t do preservation until you do these things.”

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