Old Northeast to take poll on local historic district
Local historic districts restrict teardowns and ill-fitting architecture - as well as renovations, critics point out.
By JARED GOLDBERG-LEOPOLD
Published February 25, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - Residents of Historic Old Northeast will soon be asked to decide whether or not they want their neighborhood to be a local historic district.
The change could control what homeowners can do, particularly if they are thinking of tearing a place down to build anew.
In the next two weeks, the neighborhood association plans to send out white postcard-sized ballots to every house in the neighborhood.
If two-thirds of the property owners - about 1,700 people - say "yes," the proposal will go on to the City Council, which is likely to approve it. This would create the third, and by far the largest, local historic neighborhood in the city.
The local historic district offers the benefits of seriously limiting teardowns and new construction that does not fit in with the neighborhood's architecture, its backers say. On the other hand, it could force residents to go through a longer process to do any major house repairs.
"We don't need the historic aspect of the neighborhood destroyed through demolition," said Jim Martin, a real estate lawyer from the Old Northeast. "We ought to bite the bullet and approve a local historic district."
The neighborhood association already has the support of about 200 people, Martin said, represented by the white signs that dot the area. With property values skyrocketing, often above the cost of the houses that stand there, the neighborhood has to work to discourage demolition, Martin said.
But some neighborhood residents, such as architect Jack Bodziak, say they are more concerned about possible restrictions than about teardowns.
"Maybe it makes teardowns a little bit harder, but it certainly makes renovations a lot harder," said Bodziak, who lives on 27th Avenue N. "The renovations' getting more expensive doesn't put more capability in the people's pockets to pay for them."
If the neighborhood fails to get enough "yes" responses - a nonresponse counts as a "no" - the association will likely continue its campaign by talking to people who did not vote for the measure.
The Old Northeast has already received a national historic designation and is under the city's Neighborhood Design Review program, but these labels don't offer the same kind of protection from teardowns as would a local district, said Bob Jeffrey, manager of Urban Design and Historic Preservation for the city.
Outside of a tax break - which offers a 10-year reduction on increases in county and city taxes that directly relate to approved historic renovation - the national historic label doesn't have much practical effect, Jeffrey said.
"It's all honorary," he said. "It's all carrot and no sticks."
Likewise, the Neighborhood Design Review label has little ability to stop teardowns. The NDR designation, which about 10 St. Petersburg neighborhoods have received, requires city review of changes to houses to make sure they fit into the neighborhood.
Under the proposed local historic designation, people who want to tear houses down would have to prove to the Historic Preservation Commission that the house could not be renovated in an economically feasible way. While local designation is one of the best tools to make teardowns more difficult, it does not prevent demolition, Jeffrey said.
Bodziak, the architect, debated the neighborhood association last year over setback requirements on a townhouse project. He said he would probably vote against the local historic district because he is wary of government control.
"I'm not sure that we need another layer," Bodziak said. "The city is doing a heck of a job right now in trying to control what goes on in these neighborhoods."
Nearly a decade ago, Martin, a former City Council member, himself dealt with city regulation when he ended up using a chainsaw to lop the top off a short white picket fence in his yard that the city said was too tall. But that is long behind him now, and he said he thinks these historic rules would be purely positive.
Much of the objection to local historic designation comes out of people's fears that they will be overregulated, said Kathleen Kauffman, the executive director of the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation.
"You have to put out the information for them to be able to understand what it means to be historically designated," Kauffman said. "You come to them and say: "You're living in this neighborhood because you like it. Wouldn't you like to protect it?"'
It can sometimes be a challenge to persuade people to apply to become a local historic district, said Kai Warren, president of the Historic Roser Park Neighborhood Association. Roser Park homeowners voted in 1987 to become the city's first local historic district, but not without opposition. Parts of the neighborhood chose not to belong, so they reached a compromise, creating a swath of less than 100 homes under the local historic district regulations.
Warren said he has been pleased with the historic district designation and hopes to encourage people outside the local district but still in the neighborhood to join.
A year after Roser Park, Granada Terrace homeowners voted to create a local historic district. Granada Terrace would fall under the Old Northeast historic district should it be created.
Both of those projects are small compared with the magnitude of courting 2,500 homeowners in one of the city's larger neighborhoods.
Nonetheless, the neighborhood association is willing to spend more than $1,000 to mail postcards to every homeowner, Martin said.
"I would hope that everybody would either vote yes or no," he said. "It's time to make a decision."
Local historic districts
Becoming a local historic district would bring some changes for homeowners planning to work on their homes. Here are the highlights.
Minor maintenance
To do a minor maintenance job, such as replacing a roof with similar materials, residents of Neighborhood Design Review areas need do nothing beyond standard work permits. Residents of local historic districts would need to obtain a maintenance certificate through the Urban Design department, which can usually be finished on the same day.
Larger projects (that cost under $50,000)
Larger projects, such as window alterations with different materials or pool additions, require a basic architectural review under neighborhood design review. This neighborhood design permit, which takes one to 10 days to obtain from Urban Design, makes sure the changes fit in with the neighborhood. Under local historic district status, residents apply for a Certificate of Appropriateness, which takes 15 to 18 days. Urban Design sends a notice to neighbors within 200 yards and reviews the changes to ensure they use materials in keeping with historic building materials.
Larger projects (above $50,000)
The cost of the project does not affect neighborhood design review. In a local historic district, projects above the $50,000 threshold must get majority approval from the 12-member Historic Preservation Commission. This review takes four to six weeks.
Demolitions
Under NDR, Urban Design has no power to review proposed demolitions. In a local historic district, the person who intends to demolish a house must prove that the house cannot be restored. This must pass a majority vote of the Historic Preservation Commission.
