German Village Society Advises Chillicothe's Design Review Board from Preservation News 3, January 2004

Listening to Good Advice

Several members of the Chillicothe Design Review Board met with Darrin Wasniewski of the German Village Society the evening of February 10th [2004] and chatted about architectural review procedure and practice, and his observations on the Walnut Street Methodist Church's plans for the Schindler Brother's Produce Warehouse and surrounding buildings.

The Chillicothe Conservancy had asked the German Village Society to offer guidance to the Chillicothe Design Review Board after that body's continued controversial decisions.

Darrin is the historic preservation officer for the German Village Society, which is a neighborhood organization "whose members have dedicated themselves to the preservation and restoration of the property in German Village and to the retention of its charm and unique old world atmosphere." Because the neighborhood has protected its architectural character, it has benefitted from that, and from its closeness to downtown Columbus, in multiplying property values while remaining a true urban neighborhood. Darrin helps oversee proposed changes to buildings in German Village.

The 2 1/2 hour meeting raised many important issues, including:

• proper procedure for reviewing such major actions as demolition


• the amount of time and number of meetings it takes to properly review applications


• misconceptions about and inexperienced estimates for work on historical buildings


• lack of preparation for members of the Chillicothe DRB


• sources for guidance and information


• legal procedure and individual liability for board decisions


• bad review decision have endangered grants and historical status for Chillicothe

Jim Compher, current president of the DRB, posed some good questions. Member of the Chillicothe Conservancy Franklin Conaway also attended, and presented various parking studies for the Walnut Street Methodist Church and spoke on other issues. Ben Lanka [of the Chillicothe Gazette], who had written most of the articles on KG&R [the company working on the Carlisle Building], was also there for much of the meeting.

I attended and, playing devil's advocate, asked Darrin "what makes it worth all these bureaucracies, procedures, studies, expenses, delays? Why do all this?"

His response was firm and immediate: "We are not making a decision for just the present, but for the future. We are protecting the history of the community."