Gaines will consider big barn on Route 104 as site for weddings, auctions and dances
Photo by Tom Rivers: The owner of this barn on Route 104, just east of Route 98, wants to use the site to host weddings, auctions, dances and other events.
GAINES – The Town of Gaines Zoning Board of Appeals said the town will consider a proposal from Ray Burke, owner of Raylin Development, to have a barn on Route 104 be used for events, including weddings, auctions and dances.
The Orleans County Planning Board last week deemed a referral from Gaines incomplete about the project because the county board said Gaines needed to determine if Burke’s proposed uses were allowed in a Commercial Historic District.
Burke also owns Fairhaven Treasures. He acquired the barn next door at 14386-14398 Ridge Rd.
The town’s zoning doesn’t list Burke’s proposed uses as allowable in the Commercial Historic District. Michael Grabowski, the ZBA chairman, said during a meeting on Monday evening that other nearby businesses have similar uses as proposed by Burke.
There is a restaurant, kennel, gas station, antique shop and convenience store all close by to Burke’s barn, which is also across the road from the Cobblestone Museum, which hosts weddings at the Cobblestone Church.
Grabowski and the ZBA board deemed that Burke’s proposal was an acceptable use. That doesn’t mean he has site plan approval and a special use permit to operate the ventures out of the barn. His application still has to go before the County Planning Board for review, and then it comes back to the town.
The Planning Board doesn’t meet this month. It will look at Burke’s application in August now that the Gaines ZBA has said the proposed uses would be allowed in a Commercial Historic District.
Burke in his application said the barn would be available for the events on a seasonal basis because he uses it in the winter to store cars, boats and campers. He thinks using the site for events would fit in with the other nearby businesses.
“Our town is the center of the county at the crossroads of Route 104 and 98 and because of all the businesses on the Ridge we could become a destination for everyone travelling on these corridors,” he wrote in the application.
