Please, don’t continue forfeiting our historical legacy

The following is an open letter to Ric Wasserman, Lili Chandler Glover, the Athens Planning Commission, the Athens Board of Zoning Appeals, and all persons interested in the future of the city of Athens and Athens County:

I just finished reading The Athens NEWS and of tentative plans to raze the building that now houses BellaVino. As a person deeply committed to this community, I have to say that I am disheartened by the news.

Some might say, "It's just an old building that has been painted over one too many times. Progress has to happen! It's no one's business what an owner (or buyer) does with a building." I am definitely not opposed to progress and wish Mr. Wasserman well in his endeavors to make money. There is nothing wrong with that. However, what the community sacrifices in terms of its history should be of concern to everyone.

Several weeks ago, I attended a zoning appeals board meeting and tried to make the case that tearing down a potentially wonderful old house on Morris Avenue (somewhere behind BellaVino) for a parking lot was not a good idea.  The zoning board voted 4-2 in favor of razing it. Here we are talking about razing another old building. What are we doing? Is this progress we really want?

Every time we tear down an old structure anywhere in this county, we lose a bit of what we once were and an opportunity to achieve a greater future. Every time we tear down a solid old structure and put up a modern apartment complex, we change our identity from a quaint, potentially powerful tourist attraction to a boring maze of boxes stuffed with students.

Students and others need housing. I'm all for it. The question is not whether or not we should build apartments, but where should they be put? Look at the BellaVino building and think of it as brick (probably manufactured in the nearby Athens brick manufactories) stripped of its paint (without damaging the brick), restored to its late 1800s style doors and windows, carefully and lovingly restored inside serving as a showplace business on the first floor with one or two upscale apartments on the second.

It wouldn't be 18 beds, but it would be a beautiful tribute to the past and a part of a progressive future. There are endless boring, cigar-box-shaped houses all over Athens that offer little or nothing in terms of stateliness or historical significance. Buy those up! Build something interesting on those spaces, including student apartments, but don't give in to destroying buildings like the BellaVino building.

Where are we going as a city and county? What do we want? If we want to attract out-of-town tourists, attract new businesses, attract new professionals, and have people talking about us in positive ways, we have to give them the experience of a lifetime while they are here or when they are passing through. That means a great visual experience, great accommodations, great service, a wide array of niche businesses, good parking, clean streets, safety and a sense of community pride. We need a comprehensive plan created with community leader input and bought into by the majority of citizens from every part of the county.

What if all of Athens County (or at least the city of Athens) thought like German Village in Columbus where we deliberately set out to attract the outside world by a uniform code and a community effort to buy into a vision of who we are? We have the people and knowledge to help make properties a visual delight. We have the wherewithal to educate people about community pride and about sharing vision and making changes that work to the benefit of all! All we lack is the will.

I, for one, would welcome a meeting of business owners, building owners and citizens who dare to dream that together we could do great things and that we need to progress by infusing our past into our present and future.  In the meantime, let's think long and hard about whether tearing down the BellaVino building (and others like it) fits with who we want to be.

Editor's note: Ron Luce is executive director of the Athens County Historical Society and Museum in Athens.