Hillsborough town leaders hope to speed up the process of restoring the Colonial Inn following a pair of frustrating encounters with the current owner.

Mayor Tom Stevens says firefighters responded to reports of smoke coming from the Colonial Inn on Tuesday.

“Apparently the owner, Francis Henry, was burning some materials- some papers- in the fireplace to dispose of them,” says Stevens. “People saw the smoke, there was a call made, the fire department responded. It was merely the owner burning things in the fireplace. There was then a visit from the Fire Marshal, who strongly suggested he not do that.”

This comes one night after Henry and his legal representatives met with the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners to discuss a plan to save the 176-year-old building, which has fallen into disrepair since Henry bought it in 2002. The building was condemned in 2011. Henry was ordered to vacate the premises the following year.

Although the fire was controlled inside a fireplace, Stevens says he’s worried by Tuesday’s incident.

“What’s the owner doing there at all? He does own the property and have some rights to come in and supposedly be working on repairs, so that’s where it gets really questionable as to what reason is he really there?”

Henry asked the Historic District Commission in 2014 for permission to demolish the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Commission denied the request, a ruling that was later upheld by the town Board of Adjustment. Henry did not pursue further appeals.

In a bid to save the iconic inn, town leaders in January contracted with the Development Finance Initiative of the UNC School of Government to determine how best to bring the building back into public use.

Monday’s meeting was a chance for Henry to respond to that report and put forward a plan to collaborate with the town, but Stevens says that didn’t go as many had hoped.

“We were hopeful about this and I think we were pretty disappointed that there did not seem to be much of a plan other than batting around ideas,” says Stevens. “This is very similar to what we’ve been hearing before.”

All this leads Stevens to say the town may pursue more aggressive measures to protect the Colonial Inn from further neglect.

The town could conduct repairs then place a lien against the structure for the cost of those repairs. Officials could also explore seizing the building through eminent domain.

“I suspect we will be looking at the longer-term options about what sort of direction we are heading in, based on the responses we got that were fairly frustrating. It’s becoming more of a public safety issue. Certainly, the building is not in great shape and with every day that goes by, it’s not getting better.”

But, Stevens notes, there’s still hope for one of Hillsborough’s most famous landmarks.

“There are buildings that are in far worse condition that have been restored, so we know that if there were ownership and effort put into the building, at least the façade and the core of the building could be restored and put to good use.”

For a full timeline of the controversy surrounding the Colonial Inn, click here.

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