DELAWARE — Jared Jablonka thought a boutique hotel in a former Ohio Wesleyan fraternity house was what Delaware city officials and residents wanted.
Concerned residents and the Delaware Planning Commission thought otherwise.
The commission denied Jablonka’s conditional use application for the property at 163 N. Franklin St. during their Wednesday meeting.
This was after the commission tabled the application on Aug. 1 that would’ve allowed him to turn the former Delta Tau Delta fraternity house into a bed-and-breakfast-style boutique hotel.
The name for the planned hotel is The Delta House Inn.
Dean Prall made the motion to approve the conditional use application, and George Stroud seconded the motion. Brandon Feller, Vice Chairman Dustin Nanna and Prall voted no. Stroud and Chairman Stacy Simpson voted yes.
Mayor Carolyn Kay Riggle is also a member of the commission, but was not in attendance on Wednesday. Riggle previously abstained from the Aug. 1 vote to table the project.
Prall was the only commission member to indicate how he was leaning before the vote. He said he was “hesitant” about the project because of its proposed commercial use in the city’s residential-neighborhood transition (R-NT) zone.
Jablonka’s boutique hotel would have been the only commercial use in the city operating under the R-NT zoning designation, Prall said.
He questioned whether the project fit the character of the neighborhood and how it could affect surrounding property values.
Planning and Zoning Administrator Anna Kelsey said this part of the zoning code could be reworked in the future.
“If that is something that the commission thinks that we should look at in the future and look at making some minor change to the use table, that’s certainly a discussion we can have,” she said. “But that is a separate discussion from this application on the agenda this evening.”
Residents filled council chambers on Wednesday, but were not permitted to speak about the project as the commission already closed the public hearing on Aug. 1.
Several audience members applauded the commission for denying the application.
“Everyone that we talked to said this is what they wanted to see in the property,” Jablonka told Delaware Source after the vote.
He said the previous owners had already developed plans for the property, including securing a building permit and stamped floor plans, and had promoted the project on social media.
Many neighbors were already familiar with the plans and had seen the property, he added.
“They know what the current owners were planning to do with it,” Jablonka said. “We thought that it was an easy slam dunk, we thought the people were going to be like ‘Oh, thank God.'”
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Boutique hotel proposal for former OWU fraternity house delayed after neighborhood concerns
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Commission’s denial could jeopardize property sale
Jablonka missed the Aug. 1 meeting because of a planned family vacation.
He told the commission Wednesday that he believes his absence, along with the city zoning code’s use of the word “hotel,” contributed to what he described as “misconceptions” about the project.
Jablonka initially planned to convert the former fraternity house into apartments. But after touring the property, he found the current owners had already framed nine rooms and installed electrical, plumbing and air conditioning, along with bathrooms, laundry areas and a kitchen.
The owners, who live on the basement and first floors, began renovating the second and third floors around 2021 using approved architectural plans, Jablonka said.
Jablonka said the owners told him they planned to operate the property as the Delta House Inn and believed they had the necessary permits, but ran out of money before completing the project.
Jablonka began the process of purchasing the property this spring but told Delaware Source the sale has not been finalized.
He said a recent windstorm severely damaged the roof, and the interior had been previously damaged from flooding. The current owners have struggled to resolve the damage with their insurance company, Jablonka added.
The commission’s denial could now put the sale itself in jeopardy, Jablonka said.
“I’ll have to think about it,” he said.
Unexpected ‘level of resistance’ from neighbors
Doing his due diligence, Jablonka later learned from the city that the property did not have the approvals necessary to operate as a boutique hotel.
“We thought that what we were doing with this application was a pretty simple administrative thing of recertifying approvals,” he said. “We did not think that this was a major change of use or anything like that.”
His plan was to complete the renovations and preserve the Delta House Inn name before eventually selling the property to someone who would live on the lower floors and operate a bed-and-breakfast on the upper levels.
Jablonka said he was “taken aback at the level of resistance” from residents after watching the Aug. 1 meeting
“We don’t have any interest in running a hotel, a commercial hotel, here,” he said. “We want to keep the existing business plan in place for the property.”
Jablonka compared his vision to the fictional Dragonfly Inn from Gilmore Girls — not a destination for groups such as bachelor parties.
With the boutique hotel plan denied, apartments could again become an option.
“If it ends up being an apartment building, that would probably be fine,” Jablonka said.
Jablonka noted the city encouraged him to see out the Delta House Inn plan, and that the city thought a bed-and-breakfast use would be “a better use than the apartment use.”
He also pushed back against neighbors who characterized the property as a single-family home, pointing to its history as an 8,000-square-foot fraternity house.
“Some of these neighbors are being really disingenuous, calling it a single-family home. It’s not single-family home, it’s a fraternity house,” he said.
“For the first 60 years … there was 20-some guys living in there.”
Jablonka pushes back on parking, traffic concerns
Residents previously raised concerns about parking and the number of guests coming and going from the property.
Jablonka said the existing parking area behind the building could accommodate guests with a modest expansion. He also questioned whether there would be enough demand for the nine-room inn to regularly reach capacity.
He envisioned guests including Ohio Wesleyan alumni returning for homecoming or visiting professors who needed a place to stay.
Jablonka also pointed to existing short-term rentals in the neighborhood.
“I was looking on Airbnb yesterday — just pick a random day in October, November, and put in downtown Delaware, there are 14 Airbnbs within a three block radius already,” he said.
“That’s not to say that because there are several, we should have more. But it’s not the case that this would be completely changing the fabric of the neighborhood, I don’t think.”
