Century-Old Barn At Crystal Lake Park Will Be Razed

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL — A barn located at a Crystal Lake park is set to be torn down and park district officials are looking to the public to provide feedback on what should be done next with the space.

The barn is located at Hill Farm Park, 705 Barlina Road, is more than a century old and no longer structurally sound. Also in recent years, there have been reports of vandalism and trespassing at the site, Amy Olson, manager of park planning and development told Patch this past week.

On Tuesday, the Crystal Lake Park District will host a community input meeting regarding the barn, which once was used for storage but is no longer structurally sound enough for regular use. The meeting will run from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Main Beach pavilion, 300 Lakeshore Drive, Crystal Lake.

Park district officials are asking those stopping out to the meeting to provide their feedback on what should be done with the space once the barn is razed. You can also provide your comments on an online form here.

Over the years, the barn has been used by the park district to store park equipment, including snow fencing, used play equipment pieces that could possibly be re-used and park equipment parts such as ball field light bulbs, Olson said.

A "few miscellaneous items are still stored there" but it is "currently not used for regular storage due to its current condition," Olson said.

Park district officials have looked into rehabbing the barn but costs came in too high for many basic improvement costs, including of roof and siding replacement. Additional inquires regarding how to make the barn usable for three seasons, ADA accessible and to be brought up to code for public use "were very high," Olson said.

The park district also reached out to barn adaptors, resellers, barn wood salvage, preservation and companies for relocations and were "hard pressed to find anyone interested in salvage and/or relocation" of the barn, Olsons said.

Olson said there have been issues with vandalism and people trespassing as well.

Information on when the barn will be razed was not immediately available.