CAMBRIDGE TWP., MI – Irish Hills Historical Society officials may find themselves a day late and hundreds of thousands of dollars short come Aug. 2.

A window of opportunity to renovate the Irish Hills Towers is closing fast after Cambridge Township officials declared last month that the towers are a public nuisance and in violation of the township's buildings ordinance.

Historical society officials must have a plan set forth and money shored up by Aug. 1, or the towers will be demolished by Oct. 1.

Irish Hills Historical Society President Donna Boglarsky said renovations will cost upwards of $300,000 to bring the property, located at 8433 W. U.S. 12, to public use standards.

"The society doesn't even have $1,000," Boglarsky said.

Township officials held a dangerous building hearing April 24, following an inspection the week before by Onsted-based Dailey Engineering.

"If the historical society obtains a building permit for the repairs and shows continuous progress in bringing this property to current building codes and safe conditions for the public, I would be in favor of extending the timeline," township hearing officer Jerry Isom said, according to the meeting minutes.

Engineer Todd Dailey recommended the buildings be torn down or renovated by this construction season.

"Either an extensive, complete program of structural repairs and exterior envelope renovations should be undertaken, or the towers should be taken down," he said.

For more than a decade, the twin towers have been closed to the public and deteriorating rapidly. The siding is falling off, the windows are boarded up, floors are rotting and roofs are "essentially nonexistent," according to Dailey.

Boglarsky said she hopes to garner grants and private donations to restore the towers. She added historical society officials will refund donations if the campaign fails.

In December 2011, area construction crews volunteered to fix a patch on the roof and the historical society set an aggressive goal of opening up one tower by the summer of 2012 — a goal that was not met.

Built in the 1920s, the towers were added to the National Register of Historic Place in 2007.

The original tower was built by the Michigan Observation Co., on a hilltop purchased from Edward Brighton. The 50-foot structure opened in 1924. Admission was 5 cents.

Annoyed at how closely the tower was to his property line, the owner of half of the hilltop Edward Kelley built a similar tower 12 feet away. It was dubbed the "spite tower."

Both Brighton and the company began adding additions to the tops of their towers to outdo the other, until the observation tower was 68-feet tall and the other 64-feet tall. The feud stopped when company officials threatened to build a much taller steel structure if he didn't stop outdoing them.

Boglarsky and her late husband Ron purchased both towers in 1976. The added a miniature golf course at the base of the towers in 1987, which closed in 2000.

Boglarsky deeded the property to the Irish Hills Historical Society, which she started, in 2010.

Those interested in making a donation can visit the historical society's Facebook page, or mail their donations to the society at 8433 U.S. 12, Onsted, MI 49265.

Contact Will Forgrave at wforgrav@mlive.com or 517-262-7554. Follow him on Twitter at @WillForgrave.