Burke Hall: Let It Shine! Let It Shine! Let It Shine!
The Planning Commission's decision to approve floodlighting the outside of Burke Hall was appealed to Village Council Thursday by village resident Jack Thornborough. The formal appeal follows Thornborough's unsuccessful attempt to convince Village Council to ask the Planning Commission to re-advertise the application. Village law doesn't permit such action on the part of Council.
Denison University has proposed placing floodlights around the modernist performing arts center to light its windowless, white, brick exterior. The Planning Commission approved the plan at its meeting May 12.
Click here to view Denison's revised Burke Hall lighting plan.
Click here to view Denison's original (advertised) Burke Hall lighting plan.
Click here to view Denison's original (advertised) Burke Hall lighting fixtures.
Granville's Planning Code says that applications for buildings in the historic district, such as Burke Hall, should be evaluated according to several criteria including:
"Lighting is particularly important, both from the standpoint of providing light to the pedestrian as well as affecting the view of the building in the evening hours. Where possible, lighting should be either low level or screened from any potential of shining directly into pedestrians' or auto drivers' eyes."
The Village Council and Planning Commission both have discretion on how to apply the law.
Denison wants to surround the building with 21 floodlights, including 6 aimed at the exterior walls and 4 others aimed at the entrances. The others would light up the landscaping with 4 aimed skyward into trees. The building is located between East College Street and West Broadway.
"I don't want to make too big a deal out of it," Thornborough said. "But it's a mistake the Village Council has the power to correct, and I hope they do so."
(Thornborough is also editor of The Granville Press.)
See previous stories about the Burke Hall lighting:
denison lighting compromise
Perhaps Denison could agree to light it up only on nights when there's a performance. I'm surprised Granville doesn't have a Dark Sky ordinance and or rules related to energy efficiency, such as rewarding LEEDs buildings. It's hard to see how the students and professors at Denison, much less the accountants, think running energy for energy sake is how business is done today.
Perhaps Village Council should change the law
If Village Council currently does not have the ability on its own to reverse such obviously poor decisions, perhaps Village Council should change the zoning ordinance to allow same.
It seems irresponsible of Village Council to continue to rely on local residents to spend their own money to enforce the zoning ordinance. It is particularly inappropriate when the problems are coming from committees that the Village Council itself appoints.
Burke Hall..
(and besides, if JT doesn't like something, you know it's wrong!)
By the way, the Ohio Revised Code doesn't give township trustees the power to reverse ZBA decisions either. Appeals go to Common Pleas Court. In their wisdom the legislature and courts have tried to keep
petty politics out of such matters.
The question is who has the right to initiate an appeal
I misled us with the wording in my original post...
The Village Council does have the power to hear an appeal of a BZBA or Planning Commission decision and to reverse that decision. The question is who has the right to initiate an appeal.
The problem is Village Council cannot on its own correct clear problems. The problems currently can only be corrected by a private citizen appealing the decision with otherwise unnecessary costs both in time and money.