Pictured is an East Fifth Street house belonging to Robert Anderton, who recently came before city council in support of the city taking a more active role in preserving homes. Anderton said his home, which is itself rather old, is an investment for his wife and him. He was spurred to address council after the groundbreaking for the nearby O’Reilly Auto Parts store, which he believes compromises the character of his neighborhood.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Will Channell)
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With the city’s efforts to jumpstart the Uptown area, residents may have noticed a recent emphasis on keeping older buildings in the area intact.
Tim Schacht, chairman of the Marysville Planning Commission and a member of the Design Review Board, said the city’s design review code has for years recommended a gentle hand with older homes. In general, it says the character of a home should be kept intact whenever possible.
“These things, they have to come in front of the board and basically use this zoning and the design review code to kind of establish what it is that goes forward,” he said.
While that guideline has been in the books for years, Schacht said with the recent focus the Uptown Revitalization Plan, it’s become about a more active “rehabilitation” of the city’s Uptown area.
Schacht said expansion has affected other towns with historic districts in the past. He said in the 1950s, people moved away from cities and into suburbs. People were more interested in large yards and cars.
“Now you see this change of people wanting to be more community-based, more walkable, they don’t want to worry about putting gas in their car all the time, or driving two hours to get to work,” he said.
That mentality is seen in more grassroots efforts too. Last month Team Marysville renewed its This Place Matters initiative, posting signs in front of certain historic buildings in Marysville.
Schacht said efforts like these also benefit millennials and empty nesters.
“They want a townhouse, they want something that’s a little more attractive, less maintenance,” Schacht said. “That’s not just speculation, there’s studies that go into this.”
Virginia Golan, who is a member of both planning commission and the design review board, agreed that historic homes should be preserved. That said, she noted that many who buy older houses are looking for those types of buildings specifically.
“While you have a smaller buying pool, it’s not insignificant,” she said.
She said to them, buying an older home is sort of like purchasing a painting. They know what to look for, and they know what they’re getting into.
“They want something unique and true to its era,” she said.
This move toward a more community-based model is good because it’s sustainable, Schacht said.
“They didn’t just think of the bottom line,” he said. “It was less development, more one-on-one, a person actually building it and using it as an office or home.”
According to Schacht, deciding what homes are allowed to be demolished can be difficult for the design review board. Schacht said just because something’s old doesn’t mean it’s worth saving.
In the end, houses that help “define” Marysville are the ones that are saved. Many of the older homes in town look relatively simple, but that’s what the town was for a time. They were quaint, unpretentious homes, built by the families that lived in them.
“There wasn’t a Honda,” he said. “It was agriculture.”
The city recently received pushback from residents after presenting an ordinance that would rezone a portion of East Fifth Street from business residential into residential only. Property owners on the stretch expressed concern that rezoning would lower property values, since the city would be narrowing the pool of potential buyers.
Essentially, they said, the city would be taking a portion of their property rights away.
Schacht understands where those residents were coming from, but said the rezoning isn’t being done haphazardly. It goes back to being able to cater to those millennials and empty nesters flocking back to the city.
“Cities do it, and there’s a larger reason behind it,” Schacht said. “We’re not trying to take anything away from people.”