Recently the Redevelopment Authority passed a policy amendment that provided that they would accept and approve applications for restoration of commerical buildings in the downtown historic area if, and only if, they were compliant with historic restoration standards. That is as I understand it.
Not much was made of this announcement. However, as I was reflecting about the various historic downtowns around, like Monroe, or Evansville, I reflected that such a policy would preserve for all time the historically very, very, very small restrooms that have such a precious memory for all of the folks of our fair city. That is correct. No matter what changes in our city, the restrooms of the Night Owl, will have to be historically accurate. No exceptions. What a relief.
It gets even better. The Evansville Common Council is considering putting "TEETH" into the historic preservation ordinances in our city and then if approved, if one wishes to make a change, the historic preservation's word would be FINAL. The current procedure is that the homeowner makes a request, and then if denied by the Commission, waits two weeks and can proceed anyway.
In my view, this "consult" with the historic preservation has worked generally pretty well over the past decade. To put further obstacles in front of homeowners who want to make improvements to their homes would be unwise. In fact, further impediments would IMPAIR sale of these homes. Many prospective purchasers of property will NOT purchase a property with overly restrictive historic provisions.
So---in addition to having folks in the historic district frustrated with high assessments----they will really be tickled to know that their home might not be easily saleable due to the impairment of these strict standards. In a slow buyers market, why would a buyer want to deal with additional hassle of being unable to make any improvements?
All citizens have a stake in the deliberations in the Evansville City Council about this matter. It is a shame that this is occuring in August when everyone is on their vacation.
You make the call.
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Dear Observer,
ReplyDeleteIt's disingenuous of you to take potshots at historic preservation efforts that most communities nationwide with historic districts have found to be economically highly beneficial. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has plenty of documentation to demonstrate this. Furthermore, resorting to petty attempts at humor in making inaccurate comments about preserving bathrooms, which by the way, as interior building components are not at all affected by proposed local ordinance, and would be minimally or not at all affected in requirements for voluntarily recieving public funding and tax breaks, does little to bolster the credibility of your argument.
The Evansville Historic District has suffered significant damage to it's original building stock in the 29 years of this very flawed 'voluntary ordinance'. Consulting, as you put it, has not worked well at all in preserving the integrity of many buildings which were in good original condition and contributing to the integrity of the building stock as a whole and then 'voluntarily' rumuddled and 'improved'to the point of having their original historic integrity largely destroyed. If you want proof I'll be happy to drive you around the district and show you.
The overwhelming majority of historic districts in Wisconsin have ordinances with enforcement provisions overseen by preservation boards that work just like any other zoning ordinances undertaken for the public good, and while not without periodic contention, have worked much better in preserving those districts and consequently improving, not impairing, property values. The attitude of "nobody can tell me what to do with my house" is fair enough if you don't live in an place that's a nationally recognized historic asset, or don't want to, regardless of it's demonstrable cultural and economic value. I think on a fair consideration though, most people here place a high value on our historic district and at this point in time will hopefully support efforts to improve it.
Sincerly
Jim McGoey