Group wary of bank’s plan to sell Charlton farm

The historic Corbin farm on Maple Avenue has deteriorated since Dorothy Corbin died in 1996, concerned residents say.

Indeed, peeling paint and other maintenance problems are clearly visible on the house and several barns.

A residents’ group has been pressing the property’s trustee owner, Trustco Bank, which is considering subdividing the farmhouse mansion and barns from the surrounding 114-acre nature preserve so they can be sold.

A lawyer for Trustco Bank had a preliminary conference with the town Planning Board earlier this week, but no subdivision application has been filed.

The residents’ group, called Friends of the Historic Corbin Farm, says the property should be repaired first, and sold later. The members fear a new owner could decide to demolish the house and barns — some of which date to the late 1700s — then divide the road frontage into several building lots.

“We are trying to get the property up to a shape that is in keeping with the historic properties in Charlton,” said Torben Aabo, one of the group’s organizers.

Trustco controls the property under the terms of the will of Dorothy Corbin. She was the widow of S. Wellford Corbin, a senior Schenectady General Electric executive. The wealthy couple had no heirs.

In her will, Dorothy Corbin stipulated that the farm and 114 acres of land be set aside as a private nature preserve and established a $500,000 fund for property maintenance.

The will also stipulated that Mrs. Corbin’s pets and domestic animals continue to be cared for — a provision that brought a brief burst of publicity in 2004 when a neighbor went public with concerns about property conditions, asserting the only remaining beneficiary was a single cat, “Teddy Bear.”

Whether “Teddy Bear” is still alive is unclear.

A Trustco official said the bank would be unable to comment on Thursday.

Aabo said a contractor evaluating the house from the road estimated it would need $60,000 to $80,000 in repair work, including replacement of some windows and wood siding.

valuable site

The house and land have an estimated market value of $339,400, according to town assessment records, but they are tax-exempt as a “trust for the benefit of wildlife.”

Friends of the Corbin Farm was formed last year, and collected 287 signatures on a petition it presented to Trustco last fall, Aabo said. If the property were improved, Aabo and others estimated the house would sell for $500,000.

Aabo acknowledged that selling the farm to someone who would maintain it would be a solution to the maintenance concerns, but he said the concerns need to be addressed first.

According to the presentation Monday to the Planning Board, Trustco would need to get the Corbin will altered before it could sell the house — a process that would require approvals from the state Attorney General’s Office and the Saratoga County Surrogate Court.

“We’re trying to be part of that so our views can be heard,” Aabo said.

Planning Board member Connie Wood said she was left concerned about the future of the property, based on the discussion about subdividing out only five acres, which would probably be marketed as a small farm. A five-acre lot would meet the requirements for a subdivided lot under town zoning law.

“I said I was concerned the five acres they’re going to carve out, considering the barns, is inadequate if you’re going to have horses,” Wood said. She said any subdivision property lines should follow the existing stone walls on the property, for the sake of their preservation.

The farm was founded by the Kirby family in 1785. Former town historian Frank Lafforthun described the property 30 years ago as “one of our landmarks of the town.” It sits on a low ridge at the corner of Maple Avenue and Packer Road.

In the late 1800s, the farm was the home of Col. F.D. Curtis, who established the permanent location of the Saratoga County Fair while president of the Saratoga County Agriculture Society in 1882.

Wells and Dorothy Corbin bought the house in 1943. Wells Corbin was a vice president and general manager of industrial sales at Schenectady GE when he retired in 1973.