Consideration
of a Local Historical District for West Austin Neighborhood Group
West Austin is composed of stable, quiet, inner-city neighborhoods which
contain traditional residential development and park land shaded by a
wealth of beautiful trees. The
many qualities of our neighborhood that attracted many of us to move here
continue to create demand for this attractive, conveniently-located
residential neighborhood. This
demand has created pressure to increase the density of inner-city neighborhoods
and to replace existing houses with new construction. Too often, the new developments are
oversized structures that disrupt the architectural and historic
character of the existing neighborhood, diminishing livability and
destroying the amenities that originally made the neighborhood an
attractive place to live.
At the
West Austin Neighborhood Group meetings, residents have expressed a
growing concern that teardown trends in the neighborhood are irreparably
changing the character of our neighborhood as fine historic homes are
demolished to make way for much larger, new houses. In addition, the residents have
overwhelmingly expressed a desire to maintain the neighborhood’s current
land use pattern. On the other
hand, we are homeowners ourselves and we recognize the difficult issues
involved in trying to preserve a neighborhood while also respecting the
rights of the property owners within it. We value our freedom, and
the long-term value of our property is important to us.
In recent
years, WANG has been reporting on the progress of the City’s efforts to
pass an historic preservation ordinance that would allow for the establishment of local historic districts
(“LHDs”). The stated purpose of
these LHDs is to preserve the areas.
The neighbors in a LHD will devise a “preservation plan” to introduce new guidelines for
regulating new development and preserving the older traditional homes in West Austin.
However, LHD’s are intended to be flexible and to conform to the
desires of the individual neighborhood.
As an incentive to promote
preservation, the City will grant some tax abatements for preservation
efforts.
While the final details are
still being worked out, the procedural requirements for obtaining an LHD
designation are simple. After a neighborhood develops its own
guidelines for historic preservation and new development, the
neighborhood requests an LHD designation from the Historic Landmarks
Commission and then the City Council. (More on the process here.) Before the final request is made, however, 60% of
the property owners in the affected neighborhood (which may be all or
part of the WANG area) would have to approve of the final plan.
At this
point, we will start a neighborhood dialog on whether and how to
proceed. Information will be
provided to the neighborhood on the advantages and drawbacks of having an
LHD for all or part of our neighborhood.
In the dialog, we will also discuss what features are appropriate
for our neighborhood and which are not. We have agreed to an
important set of guiding principals for what we feel we should have in an
LHD. To assist with the dialog,
please take the time to review the materials we have for you here, and please
make sure you complete our LHD opinion survey on the web site. We
won't know what is important to you unless you tell us.
Erik Cary
2005/2006
President
West
Austin Neighborhood Group
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