This week, the Landmark Commission was asked to take authority away from itself. Currently, the commission must approve all zoning and related changes in historic districts, but the proposed change to the development code will take away some of this power. The idea is to make it easier for someone who wants to tear down a house, put up a new building or make renovations on property that has been deemed an eminent threat to public health and safety.
On the face of it, this is not a bad thing. Some historic districts have homes in pretty bad shape, and they probably do need to be torn down. But since I do not trust anyone downtown about almost anything related to planning and zoning (see Jim Schutze’s analysis of how screwed up the process is), I am sounding a warning.
This change is a bad thing. For one thing, it was tucked onto a single line on page 22 of the 23-page meeting agenda, and I learned a long time ago to pay attention to bits like that. More importantly, the commission is being asked to set a precedent by curbing its own power, which seems like an odd way of going about the process. That raises another flag. (It appointed a committee to study the issue.)
Yes, the Landmark Commission has gotten a lot of bad press, whether it’s about closets on Swiss Avenue or something similar. But the fact is that it has played significant roles in saving a bunch of homes, buildings and neighborhoods in this part of town. The fear, and I’m not the only one who feels this way, is that this could well be the first step in curbing the Landmark Commission’s authority to protect homes and neighborhoods from people who want to tear them down for no other reason than to increase density, because density is good and historic is bad. (Yes, that would be Mayor Park Cities.)
I’m not saying that this change will make it possible for someone to put a McMansion on Swiss Avenue or a six-story condo building on Lakewood Boulevard. But this change could be the first step in making that happen.
