NWA editorial: Preservation, or else

Fayetteville weighs historic district powers

Should Fayetteville put some regulatory teeth in its code of ordinances to more tightly control what property owners within historic areas of the city can do with their properties?

That's the fundamental question the city's Historic District Commission has asked residents of the Washington-Willow neighborhood, which is more than just a collection of lumber, windows, porches, pillars and paint. Many of the homes just north and east of historic downtown Fayetteville are links to the community's past. And certainly the idea of modern additions that ruin the architectural consistency of a structure or, worse, the destruction of a historic home are developments worthy of resistance.

What’s the point?

Residents and city leaders must advance carefully when it comes to regulatory districts that impose heavy regulation on local property owners, even for the right purposes.

Demolition in that neighborhood last year of a grand old home owners had allowed to become dilapidated sent a shock through the psyche of those who advocate preservation. But it was, after all, private property and in most parts of Arkansas, that means a lot. There's a great appreciation generally that the people who have invested their own money into a property ought to be the ones to make the decisions about the future of that property.

Thankfully, many owners put their own money into such precious properties precisely because they want to preserve, protect and defend these vestiges of days gone by. Local ordinance historic districts, the ones with regulatory powers, are designed to rein in property owners who might have other ideas or to discourage those who aren't enamored of preservation from buying them in the first place.

After last year's consternation, the Historic District Commission is responding to the outcry from those who thought the demolished house should have been saved, and why not? It really wouldn't be much of a commission unless it responded to such concerns, would it?

So let the discussion happen. See what the mood of the property owners in the Washington-Willow area is. If there's a collection of homeowners who are willing to give up some of their property rights in exchange for greater historic preservation, by all means they should unify and work with the city to form such a district.

The rub, however, comes when some property owners are ready to impose their notions of what's appropriate on other owners who would rather just be left alone to manage their properties as they see fit. And, it should be noted, a good many of those property owners have done right by their historic properties all along, without the need for government intrusion.

The way a local ordinance historic district often works is once 51 percent of property owners agree to the formation of regulatory district, the City Council can create one. In such a scenario, however, the city would create imposing restrictions on 49 percent of the properties. That's not really neighborly at all.

Such districts represent a heavy dose of regulation that must be seriously considered before it's put in place. But the discussion is worthwhile. Maybe a district can be shaped around only the folks willing to be part of it. Or if no district is ultimately formed, perhaps discussions can lead to more voluntary and cooperative efforts to protect great specimens of Fayetteville's past.

It's a big step. It's far more than just putting up a sign and having a quaint, vintage area of town. Local ordinance historic districts are powerful forms of government regulation.

Is Washington-Willow ready for that?

Commentary on 04/25/2018

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