There is hereby established an Architectural Board of Review which shall consist of three voting members and two architect advisors, all of whom shall be appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by Council for three-year terms, except that in January of 2009 one voting member and one architect advisor shall each be appointed to a three year term, one voting member and one architect advisor shall each be appointed to a two year term and one voting member shall be appointed for a one year term, all subject to the confirmation of Council. Up to three (3) alternate members of the Board may be appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by majority vote of the members of Council for three (3) year terms, who shall serve whenever one (1) or more members are unable to hear a particular matter or are unavailable for a particular meeting. The alternate members shall either be residents of the Village or registered architects in the State of Ohio, and in the event the absent or conflicted member is an architect, then the alternate member appointment preference for a particular matter or meeting, shall be for any alternate member who is a registered architect.
At least one voting member and the two architect advisors of the Architectural Board of Review shall be architects, duly registered and authorized to practice architecture in and under the laws of the State, and shall have been actively engaged in the general practice of architecture as registered architects in the State for a period of not less than three years prior to their appointment to such Board; the architect member of the Board and the architect advisors may reside outside the Village. Two members of the Architectural Board of Review shall be residents of the Village of Chagrin Falls and need not be architects. The architect advisors shall serve in an advisory capacity, only, and shall not exercise any authority of the Village. No voting member or architect advisor of the Architectural Board of Review shall participate in the review or approval of any work of which he or she or any partner or professional associate of his or hers is the author, or in which he or she or they have a direct or indirect financial interest. An architect advisor may present matters to the Board which he or she has authored, or in which he or she has a direct or indirect financial interest, but that advisor shall not serve in an advisory capacity to the Board for such matters.
The purposes of the Architectural Board of Review are to preserve and protect the public health, safety and welfare by maintaining the high character of community development and protecting the real estate within the Municipality from impairment or destruction of value by regulating, according to proper architectural principles, the design, use of materials, finished grade lines and orientation of all new buildings, signs and structures, hereafter erected, and the moving, alteration, improvement, repair, adding to or razing in full or in part of the exterior of all existing buildings. Such regulations shall take into consideration the historical and architectural nature of existing buildings, signs and structures within the Municipality and the compatibility of proposed changes or proposed new buildings, signs and structures with such existing buildings, signs and structures. The Board shall exercise such other powers and duties as may be established by ordinance of Council. The Board may not act without a quorum present. A quorum shall consist of a minimum of two voting members of the Board and, if neither of the voting members of the Board is an architect, one architect advisor must be present to establish the quorum.
(Amended 11-4-08; 11-6-18)