ThisWeek CW 06/06/2013
Groveport City Council gave its approval last week for the establishment of a subcommittee of the Preservation Committee to consider the development of a preservation or heritage district.
City officials were quick to note that any such district would exist only to provide information.
The informal Preservation Committee was set up in 2011 to respond to the Heritage Society’s concerns that Groveport’s historic buildings, such as Town Hall and the Log House, are maintained in a historically appropriate manner, according to City Administrator Marsha Hall.
“There’s been a recommendation from the Preservation Committee that we look into making a subcommittee to consider the creation of a preservation district as a way of providing information to the people in the district who might like to preserve their properties in a historically accurate way,” Hall said during council’s May 28 meeting.
Several council members were immediately concerned about putting anything in place that would be considered a requirement for preservation or would include enforcement.
“I want to make sure that this is just informational, like a resource for people who want to follow historic preservation guidelines so instead of going online to get this information, they can come and talk to these people,” Councilwoman Jean Ann Hilbert said. “I don’t want to open up a hornets’ nest again.”
Finance Director Jeff Green agreed, reminding council and city staff members that previous historic preservation legislation was met with strong resistance from residents.
“The last time this came up, we got crucified,” Green said.
Hall reiterated that this subcommittee would only develop resource documents that could be shared with residents, not enforced guidelines.
“This will not have a commission or board associated with it to make approvals at all,” she said. “It will just be a resource for information to help property owners.”
Councilman Ed Rarey and Hilbert agreed that for informational purposes, this could be a good thing.
“The Preservation Committee and Heritage Society are very active and present good programs with issues related to the history of Groveport that I think is important,” Rarey said.
Council members unanimously agreed to the formation of the subcommittee as described by Hall.
“The committee, with council’s approval, will put together a small subcommittee of two Heritage Society members and one staff member to put together this resource package,” Hall said.
She told council members she would provide them with a draft of the resource package for review once it is prepared.