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In many ways, the story of Dr. Pierce鈥檚 Barn is a familiar one, according to Cottage Grove resident Cathy Bellavita.

The historic barn, which sits on an acre of property near Oregon Route 99, is well-known because of a huge, hand-painted advertisement for 鈥淒r. Pierce鈥檚 Pleasant Pellets鈥� on its western face.

The 112-year-old barn has seemingly been there 鈥渇orever,鈥� Bellavita said, and although many people love it and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the community effort to save it has so far fallen short.

The owner says the barn will be demolished or removed from the property before October, when the city-issued demolition permit expires. So despite their months-long effort, the 鈥淔riends of Dr. Pierce鈥檚 Barn鈥� will most likely lose the battle to save the barn.

But the story of this failed preservation effort has a twist: It may ultimately change the local land-use codes and make it more difficult for property owners to demolish historic properties in Cottage Grove.

鈥淲e, the 鈥榮ave-the-barn people,鈥� are seeing what we can do to make sure this doesn鈥檛 happen again,鈥� Bellavita said.

A core group of the barn preservationists has worked with the city planning office to change the local demolition code, and the first draft of the revision will go before the Historic Landmark Commission on Thursday.

As it stands, the burden is on the opponents of a demolition permit to prove that a historic building should remain standing. If the Historic Landmark Commission and then City Council were to approve the new code, the burden of proof would be shifted to the property owner, which city planner Amanda Ferguson says would put demolition permits in line with the rest of the city鈥檚 land-use requirements.

鈥淚f you want to build a Walmart, then you鈥檙e required to prove you would comply with code; the demolition code is written in the other direction,鈥� Ferguson said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 really mesh with the rest of the way we do things in the city.鈥�

Under the potentially revised code, a property owner who wants to demolish a historic landmark could be required to conduct an appraisal, demonstrate that the property was on the market for several months, and provide proof that the building is structurally incapable of being saved or moved.

Part of the trouble, according to Ferguson, is that the current code, written in 1993, was worded broadly.

鈥淭hey were just thinking about hazardous buildings when they wrote the original code,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 until we went through the process that we realized where the problems were.鈥�

Even if the proposed code revisions were adopted, they would not apply retroactively to the demolition permit issued for Dr. Pierce鈥檚 Barn. They also would not address concerns of the barn鈥檚 owner, Doug Stout.

Stout in 2008 paid $105,000 for the barn, an adjacent house and the surrounding property. But at least $40,000 worth of work would be needed to make the barn safe to enter. He also pays $1,500 per year in property taxes for the one-acre plot of land. Those expenses make saving the dilapidated barn economically unviable, he said.

鈥淚 want to save it as much as anyone,鈥� Stout said. 鈥淏ut I can鈥檛 stand to pay that much and still not be able to use it.鈥�

Stout plans to put the barn, or just the sign, up for sale online, and then sell the property for between $275,000 and $300,000.

鈥淚f the good people want to save something, they should have the resources to participate in the saving of it, (and) not expect an enormous amount of taxes and requirements to take care of things,鈥� he said.

For the local preservationists, however, Stout鈥檚 attitude about the barn was a wake-up call that spurred them to seek code changes.

鈥淵ou shouldn鈥檛 be able to just buy a historic building in Cottage Grove and then tear it down,鈥� said Marie Longfellow, vice chairwoman of the Historic Landmark Commission and curator of the Cottage Grove Historical Museum. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 do enough to preserve what we have; the meeting (on Thursday) is hopefully going to be an answer to that.鈥�

Other preservation efforts are in the works in Cottage Grove. A local group is encouraging more property owners to list properties as local landmarks, and in June the city will begin work on a preservation plan to establish over the next decade.

鈥淲e just want to make sure that when the next structure that comes around, we won鈥檛 be put in this position,鈥� Ferguson said.