Members of the city’s Historic Review Board made quick work of a single request during their regular meeting Tuesday, held at City Hall, 201 Vigo St.
Marshall Davis, co-owner of Abattoir, a haunted attraction at 321 N. Second St., went before members of the HRB with a request to do some tuck-pointing to the historic building and, possibly, repair a large portion of the roof, too.
Marshall said he’s done many improvements already, including the replacement of nearly 750 bricks, helping to make the building more structurally sound.
“It was nearly ready to fall into Second Street,” he told the HRB.
Now, with the primary structural concerns remedied, he’s ready to move on to tuck-pointing the rest of the building, specifically around some windows.
When coupled with repairing a portion of the roof, he hopes to remedy leaks during heavy rains.
HRB members offered little discussion, opting quickly to throw their support behind his plan.
“We are always in favor of going the tuck-pointing route because it preserves the historical value of the building,” said HRB member Jesse Germany.
“We’re happy and excited to see you invest time and money into the building.”
HRB member Sarah Wolfe agreed.
“It needs to be done,” she said matter-of-factly. “There’s not much more to be said about it.”
HRB members did briefly discuss the material and color of the proposed new roof, which will be gray, but with a parapet wall in place, it won’t be seen from the street anyway, advised city inspector Brad Snider.
Davis celebrated the opening of Abattoir in the fall of 2020, and he said business has been good.
“People seem to really enjoy having something to do,” he said, adding that the haunted house will be open for a special night of Valentine’s Day-themed horror on Feb. 11.
Area Plan CommissionMembers of the Area Plan Commission approved a relatively minor zoning change on Tuesday that will allow a local veterinarian to treat animals at her home.
Amber Fowler was the co-petitioner on a request to change the zoning on a piece of residential property at 379 E. Brown Road from R-1 to R-A, which would allow her to add on to a pole barn there and have a permanent location for her now ambulatory large-animal veterinary practice, Whispering Pines.
The change to R-A allows for things such as boarding kennels, riding stables or certain types of rural businesses, said her legal counsel, Katie Kotter.
Fowler said she doesn’t intend to board animals on site, but she is hoping to be on the road less with a permanent location for Whispering Pines, allowing her clients — which extend from Central Indiana down into Kentucky and Illinois, too — to come to her instead.
She plans to do oversee horse breeding operations on site, she said, as well as basic large-animal veterinary care.
APC members, after considering the request and talking at length with Fowler about her plans, voted unanimously to give it a favorable recommendation.
It will now go back before members of the county commission, who approved it on first reading in January, for final approval on Feb. 21.
The APC also on Tuesday gave an unfavorable recommendation to a second request, one for a minor subdivision of a piece of property at 102 W. Swartzel Ave. in Vincennes.
The petitioner and property owner, Patrick A. Carie, sought to sever 0.06 acres from a larger tract, specifically the area directly around a home on the property that he hopes to sell.
But APC members took issue, both with the size of the proposed new lot as well as an accessory building that would be left out.
Should the petition have worked in reverse, the APC doesn’t allow for an accessory building to be constructed on a piece of property without an adjacent primary dwelling.
So after much consideration, the APC opted to give the petition an unfavorable recommendation. It, too, will now go back before the county commissioners for consideration, although they often side with the APC on such matters.
