In the mid-1900s, student shoppers in Uptown Athens ambled in and out of Victorian-style shops decorated with cast iron and sunny, striped awnings.
Court Street has seen ample change in the past 70 years, including limiting traffic to one direction, and some Athenians are now saying that their town has seen better days.
“If you walk up and down Court Street today, there’s an inconsistency in the way the buildings look,” said Ron Luce, executive director of the Athens County Historical Society and Museum and member of Athens Uptown Business Association. “Some just don’t fit in because they were built cheaply.”
Since Luce expressed his concerns at an AUBA meeting last month, the group has decided to resurrect a plan to protect the historical integrity of Uptown buildings. The Zarney Plan was implemented in 1978 when Athens’ Community Design Group hired a restoration designer, Kim Zarney, from Medina, Ohio, in an attempt to restore the buildings to their original state. The plan lapsed about five years ago due to a lack of funds.
“People look at some of the Uptown buildings and go, ‘Holy crap, don’t they take pride in what they own?’” said John Wharton, president of AUBA. “I am in favor of everything the Zarney Plan would do.”
The former plan offered an eight-year property tax abatement to Uptown business owners for restoring the 19th century architecture of their shops. City planner Paul Logue said he is now working with an intern, Ohio University graduate Jia Li, on updating the prior preservation plan.
“My goal is to take the plan and compare what was recommended back then with what we should be doing today,” Logue said. “Besides that plan, we’ve never had any other design guidelines consistent with historical preservation.”
Luce said he was unfamiliar with the old plan when he brought up the declining conditions of Uptown buildings during the Dec. 14 meeting. He was simply seeking a strategy to preserve the Victorian aesthetic of a street that gives Athens soul.
With a modernized Zarney Plan, the 88 buildings that make up Athens’ Downtown Historic District could someday resemble the crisp, brick storefronts they were centuries ago.
“I’d like to see more commitment from Athens residents and students to focus on the appearance of this town,” Luce said. “I want people who visit to say, ‘Wow, what a nice little place to be.’”
oy311909@ohiou.edu
