Plain City Design Review Board approved owner Tim Dawson’s plan for the property at 132 N. Chillicothe Street. The building, which will house Pioneer Pizza, that was originally planned for its entire façade to be painted black. The rendering Dawson provided Wednesday added gray tones to the upper portion of the structure. (Graphic submitted)
Pioneer Pizza is on its way to a new location in Plain City.
During Wednesday’s Plain City Design Review Board meeting, members approved owner Tim Dawson’s design plan for the property at 132 N. Chillicothe Street.
The hearing was continued from the July 22 meeting after the board agreed that there was conflicting information in the materials Dawson submitted with his application.
The application passed with a 3-1 vote, with Todd Boyer dissenting. Dawson, who also sits on the board, abstained from voting. Members Steve Rice and Annabelle Tuller were absent.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Dawson addressed the board’s earlier questions.
He provided an elevation drawing that eliminated garage doors and a walk-in cooler from the plan, adding they were “no longer a point of discussion.”
Board members also previously expressed concern surrounding the lack of cornice work in Dawson’s plans for the mid-level of the building.
During the July 22 meeting, Dawson said he could not afford to restore and replace the detailed cornices that are seen in historical photos of the structure.
On Wednesday, he presented the board with a photo included with a 2014 DRB application from the neighboring building. Dawson said the photo showed that the cornice work was already removed before he purchased it.
Dawson said he also asked Ivan Beachy of Darby Creek Millwork Co., who is completing woodwork for the building, to revise his cost estimate to include the cornice work.
The previous estimate included 16 wooden columns that will line the building at a cost of $600 each. To add additional details, Dawson said the price will increase to $2,000 per column.
He said there will be an additional $12,528 increase in the cost to include the cornice work itself.
“Of course, I can’t afford to do that,” Dawson said.
He added that he may be able to add the suggested details in the future, but “I’m not prepared to do that in Phase One.”
Board member John Rucker said he agreed that the “added cost of doing that extra work is a little bit too much,” given the purchase price of the building.
Board member Christine Iman said she also felt it was helpful to see the photos from 2014 and felt that cornice work was already removed when Dawson purchased the building.
However, resident Eric Medici disagreed with the board’s comments.
He claimed to have personally seen Dawson removing cornice work from the building once it was in his possession.
“His photo (from 2014) shows two feet worth of roof line, not sixty feet of building,” Medici said.
He also called Dawson’s quote from Beachy “disingenuous” because he felt recreating the cornice work wouldn’t require changes to the columns. Medici said the historic details could be achieved using “standard, off-the-shelf moldings.”
“It’s the single easiest thing you can do to a building,” he said.
Board members and residents also disagreed with each other regarding Dawson’s color scheme for the building.
The owner received a certificate of appropriateness for his color palette prior to the July 22 meeting, as he planned to use historic paint colors that are approved by the village.
However, Dawson’s initial plans indicated the entire building will be painted black. The board asked him to consider a different design that would highlight features of the building.
In response, he showed the board a rendering that added gray tones to the upper half of the building, while the lower half would remain black. He said the dark colors would be broken up by the windows, wooden columns and wooden double doors on the lower level.
“I think that’s considerably better than what we had before,” Rucker said.
Dawson emphasized that the rendering may not reflect the final outcome of the building. Since he already received approval to use the historic colors, he said he could still paint the entire building black if he chose to do so.
Medici said he felt Dawson was threatening his fellow board members. He called Dawson’s comments “rude, unsportsmanlike” and said they reflected “poor, poor choices.”
Dawson told Medici, “You’re making a confusing thing out of this matter and trying to confuse the board.”
In an effort to reduce confusion between new and previously submitted materials, the board stipulated that its approval included only the packet as it was most recently presented. Iman specified the approval does not include the garage doors or walk-in cooler.