Wellington’s Architectural Review Board met Wednesday, Jan. 15 for a single agenda item tabled from the board’s December meeting — a decision on a new color scheme for the Wellington Marketplace shopping plaza.
As it turned out, the new paint color and awnings of the shopping center, located at the corner of Wellington Trace and Greenview Shores Blvd., will be similar to the plaza’s current look.
After a significant discussion, the board determined that the beige buildings with beige trim and turquoise awnings would be newly repainted a different beige, keeping the turquoise awnings.
Paul Frahm was again representing the property owner but had also brought the owner along to the meeting in hopes of getting an answer on the color scheme.
It was a case of be careful what you ask for. As a result of a citation, work has been done on the buildings, and the management of the center asked to repaint the buildings gray, but also suggested beige in case change was not in the offing.
Village staff didn’t think that gray and turquoise looked nice together, so there were two options recommended by staff at the December meeting: a two-tone gray, or beige and black. Either way it was suggested that the faded turquoise awnings should be replaced within the year with neutral or black ones.
The applicant did not bring renderings of the new look to the December meeting, and a decision could not be reached. So, the applicant and all future applicants were instructed to bring in renderings of what the options would look like, which the applicant did at this week’s meeting.
In the ensuing weeks, since the last meeting, the applicant determined that the gray would necessitate more costs in pressure washing and now had a preference not to paint the building gray, even though they had initially suggested the change to that color.
“Teal is not my favorite,” Board Chair Ron Shamash said, referring to the awnings, which were also referred to as turquoise or faded turquoise.
While fading has occurred, only one of the 20 or so existing awnings is ripped, and plans have already been made to replace it.
Board Vice Chair Tom Wenham made a motion to approve painting the body of the building the earth tone color. But the lack of specificity regarding what to do about the awnings created some concerns. “I am just trying to move this along,” he said.
Board Member William Klein seconded the motion, but it was tabled by Wenham so more discussion could occur.
“If it was a new building, would they have to get the color approved for the awnings?” Klein asked.
“Ultimately, everybody has to bring their buildings before us,” Shamash said. “We decide the colors.”
Klein felt that this situation is different. “There is remaining life in the existing awnings,” he said, noting that the cost of replacement is significant.
Shamash said that it was nice that Klein was trying to be fair to the applicant, but they had to be fair to the village, too.
After additional discussion, Klein made a motion to approve the rendering that was beige with the existing awnings.
The motion passed unanimously, although several board members seemed ready for more discussion.
So, the building is going to be freshly painted in a similar beige. Frahm had previously described it as pretty much the color the plaza was before years of fading in the sun.
The next ARB meeting is slated for Wednesday, Feb. 19. On that agenda will be a discussion of plans to demolish the old Macaroni Grill building near Whole Foods Market on State Road 7 to be replaced by a new retail bay.
