TERRE HAUTE —
More than three dozen people turned out Wednesday to ask questions about a proposed Terre Haute ordinance that would set up a formal process to preserve historic properties in the city.
City Councilman Todd Nation and Vigo County Area Planning Department Director Jeremy Weir conducted a two-hour meeting in the Vigo County Annex to discuss the ordinance. Among those attending were local developers, city officials and other concerned citizens.
“The goal of the meeting was to have an open forum for everybody who’s concerned about this, or has questions about it,” Nation said after the meeting.
The centerpiece of the meeting was a proposed ordinance that has been introduced in the Terre Haute City Council. The ordinance would establish an eight-person Historic Preservation Commission, which would have the authority – subject to City Council approval – to establish historic preservation districts within the city.
Five members of the proposed commission would have voting rights and be appointed by the mayor, also subject to council approval.
Several people attending the meeting asked whether the proposed commission would be able to hamper a property owner’s ability to demolish or renovate a building within a historic district. Others asked whether the commission could force someone to renovate a historic building that had been badly damaged.
Once a historic district would be designated by the commission and approved by the City Council, any demolition or major alteration of a building within that district would require a “Certificate of Appropriateness” from the commission, according to the ordinance.
Before an area could be deemed a local historic district, certain objective criteria would have to be met, Nation said. “It’s not just an eye-of-the-beholder kind of thing,” he said.
The ordinance, which is subject to change, is expected to go before the Area Plan Commission at its June 6 meeting, Weir said. Once through the Area Plan Commission, the City Council would have 90 days to act on the ordinance, he said. Adoption or rejection of the ordinance is ultimately up to the council.
State law allows local governments in Indiana to set up historic preservation commissions, Nation said, adding that more than 50 local government entities in the state have done so. Communities that have adopted such ordinances have seen property values in historic districts perform better than historic areas without historic designation, said Tommy Kleckner, director of the western regional office of Indiana Landmarks, a not-for-profit historic preservation organization.
The ultimate goal of having a historic preservation commission in place is to recognize that “our ‘built’ heritage has value and can be a tool in economic development,” Nation said after the meeting. In the past 20 years, “we’ve seen some demolition happen in areas where it affects the integrity of the whole neighborhood. There has also been new construction in some historic districts that would fit better if we had some kind of process in place.”
Reporter Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes
@tribstar.com.
News
Historic preservation proposal discussed during open forum
Ordinance would set up a commission to develop historic preservation districts
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