At their Monday night meeting, Athens City Council will hold a public meeting to discuss whether or not buildings effected by the West Union Street fire should be declared historic.
After a fire destroyed five West Union Street buildings in November, some viewed it as a great loss of historical properties that stood for decades.
At a previous City Council meeting, Athens City Planner Paul Logue urged council members to pass an ordinance that would include these buildings into the Athens’ Historic District.
Though the façades are the only salvageable part of the buildings left standing, Logue argued they’re still considered historic.
“Façade preservation is a relatively normal thing,” Councilwoman Chris Fahl, D-4th Ward, said in a previous Post report.
According to Athens City Code Enforcement Director John Paszke, many of the buildings sustained significant damage.
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“(The buildings’ walls) are unstable right now,” Paszke said in a previous Post report.
Paszke also said most of the buildings would have to be completely cleared away with the exception of the façades.
“All that we’re attempting to save is the front of the buildings,” he said. “The rest of that structure will be gone. It will be demolished.”
If the buildings were declared historical, Logue said, that would qualify owners for historical tax credits. Those credits would match 25 percent of money spent on reconstruction efforts.
Some of the owners have already begun moving forward with construction efforts. Paszke said that efforts to rebuild the roof on •18 W. Union St., formerly the Union Bar & Grill, are currently underway. Not all building owners have set a concrete repair schedule, though, he said.
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In 1982 when the area was first looked at to be declared historical, only the buildings housing Uptown Dog T-Shirt Shop, formerly 10 W. Union, and Jack Neal Floral, formerly 12 W. Union, qualified for the designation. Other buildings had not yet reached 50 years old and could not qualify for the designation, or did not apply for designation, Logue said.
Before the buildings can be declared historic, Logue said council has to hold a public hearing before passing an ordinance.
At their Monday night meeting, council members will be holding a meeting at the beginning of their regular session as well as voting to pass an ordinance including the buildings in to the historic district.
Council members will also introduce an ordinance that would regulate personnel allowed to dole out non-union pay raises.
“We’re trying to make a consistent kind of policy so we can know the expectations of what falls under councils responsibility,” Council President Chris Knisely said at last week’s council meeting.
The ordinance would allow any elected official to give pay raises within the pay bands previously set by city council. Council, though, would be the only body allowed to give retroactive pay raises.
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