Sylvania bans razing historic buildings

Vogt House not affected by 12-day moratorium

In the wake of controversial plans that could have led to the demolition of the 166-year-old Vogt House, Sylvania city council voted last night for a 120-day moratorium on issuing demolition permits on buildings that could be considered historical.

The moratorium, sought by Councilman John Billis, would not have affected the status of the Vogt House. St. Joseph Catholic Church, one of the largest parishes in the Diocese of Toledo, took out a demolition permit to level the structure after buying the property on which it stands.

The parish, though, agreed to a plan to move the house about 200 yards north of its present site after the Sylvania
Historical Society led opposition to the destruction of the home.

"I think this gives us a timeout and allows us to review what we should do without something happening in the interim," said Mr. Billis after the meeting. "Before, anyone could have walked in and taken out a demolition permit [on a possible historical building], and we would be able to do little about it."

Mayor Craig Stough said the moratorium also will cover buildings identified as historic structures in the city’s land-use plan.

City council agreed to give Dr. Ted Ligibel, a Sylvania preservationist and a professor at Eastern Michigan  University, up to $7,000 for a survey to identify and catalog historically significant homes in the city.

Bonita Scheidel, a city councilwoman, said Dr. Ligibel and graduate students from Eastern Michigan will participate in the study.

St. Joseph plans classrooms, recreational facilities, and meeting rooms on the Vogt House site. Parish leaders said
the church needed to expand its current campus.

Preservationists will have six months to raise $110,000 to move the house from its current site to a spot along Ten
Mile Creek.

In other action, council approved adding $42,952 worth of work to the Tam O’Shanter/Senior Center construction
contract. Mayor Stough said the changes were needed to add a six-foot-high privacy fence at the site and for a new
sidewalk and asphalt removal.