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St. Pete Beach pads 'historic' home rules

A new law requires some Pass-a-Grille residents to consult the city if they want to make changes to their home.

By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published January 30, 2005

ST. PETE BEACH - In the coming months, some Pass-a-Grille residents might find their homes designated "historic" - whether they like it or not.

The city's Aesthetic and Historic Review Board on Wednesday explained a new policy, adopted since a revised historic preservation ordinance passed in 2004. The ordinance gives the board the power to tag homes with a "historic" designation, only now with the subcategories "voluntary" and "involuntary."

The ordinance comes on the heels of a 2003 decision by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to expand the existing National Historic District by pushing its northern boundary from 12th to 32nd avenues. It gave more perks to contributing homeowners who then seek local historic designation, and more power to the city to discourage owners from destroying or modernizing their properties.

Not all homeowners are thrilled.

"Isn't it a shame for somebody to put a gun to your head?" said Ruth Ledner, whose house on Gulf Way was built in 1938. "Where's the heart in this? There isn't any."

The board will hold a public hearing Feb. 17 to consider designation of properties. Wednesday's workshop allowed board members and city liaison, planning and zoning director Karl Holley to lay out the future.

Behind the new action is a sense of unease over historic structures slipping away. The National Register of Historic Places, on which a part of Pass-a-Grille landed in 1987, entails a formula, said Aesthetic and Historic Review Board chair Trish Kelley. If too many homes lose their historic status through demolition or other changes, an area can lose its national registration.

"That's a real possibility," Kelley said.

The effort to expand the historic district started in 2002 and took about two years to complete. The new boundaries run from Third to 32nd avenues, but hold a jagged profile on both east and west sides due to properties that no longer apply, Kelley said.

Researchers took pains to document houses deemed to "contribute" to the district. But contributing to a historic district is just the first step to obtaining benefits.

Those benefits include tax credits and exceptions to Federal Emergency Management Act regulations. These perks come from local, not national, historic designation. Unlike the national designation, which covers a district as a whole, local designation is sought out by individual homeowners.

The new ordinance gives the board more power than the old. Previously, the building department notified the board whenever someone in the historic district planned to change the outside of a structure.

Under the new ordinance, a person seeking to change the outside of a structure whose home has been designated as potentially historic - voluntarily or otherwise - must come before the board and explain the reasons for the change.

That provision raised eyebrows Wednesday from Ledner and others, but Kelley said that the ordinance is educational. Board members have no power to stop the action.

"It gives us the opportunity to say, "Okay, if that is your intent to tear it down, perhaps we can find someone who would like to move the house and save it.' "

Homes usually must be at least 50 years old to be eligible for local historic designation. Exceptions include houses where historic people have lived, and homes that are less than 50 years old but designed by, say, a Frank Lloyd Wright.

Owners can gain tax advantages such as a 10-year freeze on their home's value after doing renovations, so long as the work follows historic guidelines. Other perks include an ability to waive FEMA's 50 percent rule, which limits structures in a flood zone from renovating beyond 50 percent of the structure's value.

"It's very difficult to renovate a historic house appropriately and not trigger that 50 percent," Kelley said.

The new law also allows historically designated houses to add to their homes at the original elevation instead of having to conform to FEMA's flood-conscious grade. And it permits additions to homes up to 50 percent of the home area or 1,000 square feet, whichever is the smaller number.

Of the more than 40 people who attended the workshop Wednesday, Ledner described herself as probably the most vocal. "I forgot that I live in America," she said. "These laws will become more restrictive as time goes by."

Kelley said that the purpose of involuntary designation is to try to persuade people to seek historic status.

"This is just a way for us to stay informed," she said. "We do not have the power to stop someone from doing what they want to do."

[Last modified January 30, 2005, 00:10:19]