As being reported in Newsday today, last night Babylon Village Board voted to accept a statement of findings prepared by the board’s legal counsel which reportedly approves the lifting of the requirement that the Smith house preserved.

Zoning board lifts protections for historic Babylon Village home (Newsday)

Tearing down the home would count as a serious loss to the village’s architectural heritage, Babylon Town Historian Mary Cascone said, given the building’s unique features and back story. The wood-frame farmhouse with interlocking joints is a rarity in the area, Cascone said. “They’ve all but disappeared,” said Cascone, who called the prospect of demolition “very sad.”

Board chairman Bruce E. Humenik declined to say why the board voted in favor of lifting the demolition restriction.

The findings themselves will not be public record until Friday, but at this time it doesn’t seem that there’s anything blocking the Ognibene’s from demolishing this key part of American history and building another cookie cutter McMansion in its place.

Update From Mary Gallagher