Developer seeks to remove an emblem of Ada County’s farm heritage. What just happened
What to do with a century-old grain silo?
That’s the question that gripped Meridian City Council members as they discussed a development for office and light industrial buildings that would require the silo to be torn down or moved.
The silo is part of the former Black Cat Farms near Black Cat and Overland Road in Meridian. It had been used to store grain for the dairy operation since 1921, according to Blaine Johnson, president of the Meridian Historic Preservation Commission. It is the last double-silo granary still surviving in Ada County, Johnson said.
Johnson and the council members want to preserve the silos, but the question they struggled with was: How?
Meridian developer Corey Barton wants to build six office and light-industrial buildings on nearly 34 acres of former farmland at 820 S. Black Cat Road. The five Meridian City Council members at Tuesday’s meeting appeared supportive of the “mixed employment” center in the city’s Ten Mile Interchange area.
But the silos stumped them. A road extension is proposed to go where the silo stands today, according to the developer’s application.
How much money would the city need to spend to move and rebuild the silos on another location? One estimate was $50,000.
Barton’s representative, David Bailey, with Bailey Engineering in Eagle, said Barton would be willing to pay for the deconstruction of the silo and store it until the city had a place for it. But that is as much as Barton would do, Bailey told the council.
Johnson said the Historic Preservation Commission hoped Barton could move the silo to another location on the former farm site.
“Our wish would be to that silo remain on site,” Johnson said. “That’s where the history belongs. That’s where we feel the best intent is.”
But Bailey wasn’t sure that the silo would have a place in the development.
That led to a suggestion from Barton’s team: Tear down the silo, and put up a monument to tell people about it.
The idea drew a lukewarm reception. Some council members weren’t sure a business park would be the best place for a historic monument.
“Candidly, I don’t like the idea of of a monument,” said Council Member Luke Cavener. “I have the Joni Mitchell song verse two in my head: They paved paradise and put up a parking lot, they took all the trees and put up a tree museum. We tear down the silo and put a picture of it, where that silo was, and I don’t like that idea.”
Mayor Robert Simison suggested that the city could reconstruct the silo at Hillsdale Park, an agricultural-themed park in Southeast Meridian.
The five council members— the sixth, John Overton, was missing — voted to continue the public hearing until they had more information about where the silos might go. They instructed Simison, the Meridian Historic Preservation Commission and Bailey to work together to figure out where to put it.
“I think in the 10 years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never had (the Historic Preservation Commission) come and say ‘Do something with this, don’t let it get torn down,’” Cavener said. “I’m sympathetic to that. I also I think many of us hear from people on our community, who’ve lived here a long time, say that preserving our agricultural history is very, very important to them.”
The council is scheduled to discuss the project again on Tuesday, May 7.
This story was originally published March 27, 2024 at 12:51 PM.
