As Plain City officials continue to discuss the future of the Uptown Historic District, council members said they would like to keep the Design Review Board in place to govern it.
During a joint work session with the Planning and Zoning Commission and DRB on July 5, Zoning Inspector Derek Hutchinson recommended eliminating the Design Review Board but keeping some historic requirements in place.
At the time, several council members voiced support for keeping both DRB and the Uptown Historic District but reworking the code surrounding it.
At Monday’s council meeting, however, Council member Kerri Ferguson said she did not feel council gave staff clear guidance to move forward.
As an Uptown business owner, Ferguson asked whether the intent of rewriting the building code would be to create stricter requirements for business owners, which are often more expensive.
“I just see the dollar signs go exponential with that,” she said.
Hutchinson agreed.
He said he feels it is important for council to distinguish if its goal is preservation or restoration, which he sees as “two totally different things.”
Hutchinson said restoring Uptown buildings to their original state, rather than trying to preserve the historic “character,” costs significantly more because of the materials needed.
For that reason, he said a more restrictive code would make locating in the Uptown cost prohibitive to most “mom and pop” shops.
“What makes downtowns unique, we won’t see that,” Hutchinson said.
Village Administrator Haley Lupton said, if council would like to keep DRB in place, it could be helpful to expand the types of changes that can be “fast-tracked,” or approved administratively rather than coming before the board.
Since 2021, the village has issued 45 Certificates of Appropriateness, of which only eight were fast-tracked, Hutchinson said. He said that is in part because the types of changes that staff can approve are very limited.
Currently, planning staff can approve window signs, changes to the color of an existing awning or painting when the color is in the approved historic palette and doing so will cause no structural change.
To add an exterior sign to a business, like the protruding signs at Main Street Nails or Plain City Nutrition, for example, Hutchinson said the average time between filing an application to a DRB meeting date is 22 days.
He said he feels there are a number of similar, “non-structural” items that can be approved administratively in order to “cut down on meetings and staff time.”
They include: window and door replacements when the opening size will not be changed, changing or adding awnings, signage, handrails, hedges and landscaping and accessory structures on private property.
Mayor Jody Carney said, while there are different opinions as to how to move forward, she said she feels the overarching theme is a lack of consistency in DRB decisions and enforcement.
Council member Michael Terry said shifting responsibility to staff “would be the way to go” in order to improve consistency, but he isn’t in favor of eliminating DRB.
He said he does not feel that the Design Review Board is “inherently” problematic, but Plain City officials need to work to make the village’s DRB a “functioning” board.
“We’re executing it terribly,” Terry said.
To start, Terry said he feels council needs to clean up the board’s membership requirements and the appeal process.
“It seems like we have a membership problem” given canceled meetings due to a lack of quorum, Terry said, adding that council should seek resignations from those who are regularly absent.
Law Director Paul La Fayette noted that DRB’s workload has continued to increase, and the board is entirely volunteer-based.
“They’re doing it for nothing… let’s not punish them for it,” he said.
La Fayette recommended streamlining the process in order to “trim some of their workload.”
Carney said she and La Fayette have discussed creating a “menu book of options” that are administratively approved, while other proposed changes must go before DRB.
Council President James Sintz said he also likes the idea of a style guide, as he does not “like the whim of what’s popular now.”
Development Manager Jason Stanford agreed that an informal example guide, which is not tied to code but shows business owners what is generally acceptable, could be “very helpful.”
Carney said she feels the next step is to rewrite and approve an ordinance that governs who sits on DRB – it currently requires an Uptown Plain City Organization member, when UPCO no longer exists – and rework the current membership.
With further guidance from council, Hutchinson said he feels more confident planning a path forward for DRB and the Uptown.
“I feel better now than I did before (the start of the meeting at) 6:30,” he said.