Charleston expands future possibilities for historic homes

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – History is at the heart of everything in West Virginia, and the City of Charleston is honoring its historic homes with a new rule that will breathe new life into them.

A new amendment to a zoning ordinance on historic homes will expand what a historic structure can be used for.

Until Monday, historic buildings in the City of Charleston could only be used as office space. But now, property owners will be allowed to turn historic structures that are on the West Virginia Registry of Historic Homes into something new, such as a bed and breakfast.

Owners need to apply for a permit in order to transform their spaces. The ordinance still prohibits owners from using historic properties for commercial sales.

Dan Vriendt, Director of Development Services says this process does not just involve the property owners. Their neighbors also have a voice.

“The conditional use process allows for a public hearing, and so the neighborhood will be notified if someone wanted to change a home into an event space. And then, they would come and have say at a meeting,” Vriendt said. “Then it would be determined if it would have an adverse impact on the neighborhood or not.”

Vriendt says that during the process applicants must have plans for guest parking and neighbors are allowed to voice any concerns they may have. However, he also says this process could help maintain many historic properties that are too much for one owner to handle.

The partners who own one historic home already have plans for the space, pending approval.

Maria Belcher is a partner at The Ruffner, and she says they have recently closed on the East End property. She says they plan to convert the home along Ruffner Avenue and Kanawha Boulevard into a muli-purpose event space if their application gets approved by the City.

“This is it. We really have to figure out a way to make this happen. We’ll go in front of the Board of Zoning Appeals in the November meeting,” Belcher said. “Feeling good about that application and hopeful that the board will approve our conditional use permit and variance as well.”

After the city notifies neighbors and that meeting in November, the partners at The Ruffner say they will continue the application process.

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