Denison weighs possible Cleveland Hall appealDenison University president Dale Knobel said the university will make a careful evaluation of its options before deciding whether to appeal a judge's decision overruling the village's approval of a proposed modern addition to Cleveland Hall.
In a March 10 ruling, Licking County Common Pleas Court Judge Jon Spahr decided Village Council was in error when it upheld a February 2007 Granville Planning Commission
ruling allowing an all-glass addition to the building, which is located in a historic district.
ruling allowing an all-glass addition to the building, which is located in a historic district....
Lost in the whirl of legal action, Knobel said, is the university's effort to preserve a historic building that when improved "would serve the educational needs of students and faculty."
Not lost in the whirl of legal action is inappropriate behavior by Denison, the village council and the hopes and desires of the citizens of Granville, but the Knobel really doesn't care about that.
In an earlier piece, Teh Fugly, is some background on how the modern addition to the historic Cleveland Hall was wrong in design, wrong in how Denison University handled getting permission and wrong in how the Granville council and the planning commission handled the process. The permit should never have been given. Whether one thinks the addition "good" or not is not the question. The addition goes against the historic restrictions on the area and 
Denison is not a super-citizen of Granville that can waive the rules and have them only apply to the little citizens. Denison has already played the bully by erecting totally inappropriate (and incredibly ugly) buildings across the street from Cleveland Hall and on nearby streets against the will of the community that supports and welcomes the university.
Denison is not a super-citizen of Granville that can waive the rules and have them only apply to the little citizens. Denison has already played the bully by erecting totally inappropriate (and incredibly ugly) buildings across the street from Cleveland Hall and on nearby streets against the will of the community that supports and welcomes the university.To envision the impact on the village generally and the nearby residents who abide by the historic rules of the area specifically, one only has to listen to the words of Denison's $160 million Higher Ground Campaign co-chair:
"Cleveland Hall is a defining structure on our campus skyline," Armacost said. "It is on one of the major paths between the upper and lower campuses, meaning students pass by it every day. Renovation will return it to its pristine beauty and preserve it for future generations."
As discussed before, pristine and tacking a modernistic glass box onto a historic building are two different things, especially on the defining structure on the campus skyline. Pristine is how it was in its pure form that became historic. Pristine in Armacost's sense would be like attaching a quonset hut to the Alamo for better storage.
Good for the judge and good for the village. Also, in the long run good for Denison. We don't need a redux of the horrible 60's style building campaigns still blighting campuses and their surrounding areas.
If Denison has to spend a significant amount of money to remove the illegally erected structure in place then maybe Denison can explain that expense as a lesson in how not to be a good member of a community.
