The responsibility of the Historic Preservation Commission is to ensure the city’s historic architecture is respected and the character of Athens is preserved.
Cyrus Moore has been on the commission since it was formed in 2013.
“It’s challenging because there’s not a prescribed, single way to (preserve Athens’ history),” Moore said.
Meghan Jennings, who has been the City Planner and Representative for the city on the commission for about a year, believes caring for historic structures shows respect for the people who built them.
“There are a lot of people in our past that have made very significant contributions to what we see as Athens today,” Jennings said.
The commission advises on any project in the City of Athens’ Uptown Historic District. Any rehabilitation, addition or demolition that alters the facade of a building in the Historic District needs to be evaluated by the commission. Once the designs are evaluated, they receive a Certificate of Appropriateness and the City Council approves the project.
However, if the developers don’t have a building permit or a Certificate of Appropriateness, the city can file legal citations against them. According to Jennings, the repercussions normally start as notifications which can escalate into the city taking the developers to court.
Timothy Anderson, who has been on the commission for about a year, said the commission has recently been involved in plans to replace the brick crosswalks at the corner of Court and Union Street to make them more accessible. The crosswalks will have a layer of concrete made to look like brick.
Not all historic buildings are in the Historic District. The commission can also designate any place or structure as a historic landmark. The criteria for that designation are listed in Title 45.11 of the Athens Code of Ordinances.
For example, the Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society is just outside the district. Nevertheless, the designs for elevators in Mount Zion Black Cultural Center had to be reviewed.
“Because it was an addition to a historic structure, the Zion group had to come to the Historic Preservation Commission for review and approval and an issuance of that Certificate of Appropriateness,” Jennings said.
The commission is also discussing what the city should do with the Historic Mansfield House because the Athens County Visitors Bureau will be moving to a new location in the summer. Moore is also working with the Southeast Ohio History Center to design exhibits that will be in the Athens Armory.
When the commission advises on a project, they consider records and photographs to understand what the look and materials of the place were in the past. They must also communicate with the architects and engineers working on the project.
This year, the commission will be setting up a memorial for Paul Logue, the former City Planner and a founder of the Historic Preservation Commission. The memorial will be a newly planted oak tree and a plaque, but the location is still being decided. Jennings said Andrew Chiki told her the Armory Park is likely to work as the memorial’s location.
Though the members of the commission are volunteers, the Historic Preservation Commission receives an annual budget of $2,000 from the city for its projects.
“Changes are going to happen ... but you can still keep the place looking like it always has,” Anderson said.
Not everything can stay the same, but the commission preserves what it can.
