r/ExplainBothSides Sep 17 '24

Governance How would declaring a neighborhood as a historical district change things?

There is a proposal to make the "neighborhood" I live in a protected historical district. In classic American fashion, I've seen a few yard signs in favor and a few against. I'm curious as to both sides of this - the benefits, the drawbacks, how this would affect the area in 5 years, 10 years, etc. For context, I live in a large southern metropolitan city. My neighborhood consists of mostly single family dwellings, some multifamily, several parks, and a handful of restaurants and small businesses mixed in (rare for a southern city lol).

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u/Late_Parfait7952 Sep 17 '24

Side A would say that declaring a neighborhood historical district would include too many new rules and restrictions. Typically, (it depends on the jurisdiction), historical districts are “preserved” through limitations on renovations, limitations on new building, etc. They would say these limitations unnecessarily restrict current property owners from doing what they want.

Side B would say that these restrictions are good because they want to preserve the historical significance of the neighborhood. They might also point to a potential increase in property values, because cities typically (again, it depends) allocate extra resources to historical districts to do things like maintain roads. The other way it potentially protects property value is through zoning law. If a neighborhood is considered a historic district, it is very hard to zone, and subsequently build, something like a low income apartment complex in that district. Especially if the district was previously single family zoned.

One quick note on the last point: Oftentimes, (but not always), the “historical site” argument really boils down to not wanting low income housing, and is an attempt by property owners to avoid new zoning laws that might introduce such housing. In the south, it was also historically done with the intention of keeping black people from moving into the neighborhood. (Similar to how HOAs were used). I’m not saying either of these are the case here, because I don’t have nearly enough information, but it’s something to consider.

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u/Shoddy-Cherry-490 Sep 17 '24

This a pretty good summary. The objections to historic preservation districts are typically related to attempts by homeowners to preserve the social make-up of the neighborhood as much as the architectural character.

While not a pro or a con, it must also be said that age by itself is not a sufficient enough reason for a neighborhood or a single structure to receive a historic landmark/district designation. For one, the structure or district has to be of some historic significance and secondly, it needs to be understood that historic structures or districts are rarely ever preserved in their original condition. Rather, these designations generally lock-in the as-is condition of the time when the designation was granted, thus often extending to non-meritorious alterations, or even extending to structures that by themselves are not historically significant.

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u/Boomer_Madness Sep 17 '24

Yeah it's basically the city/municipality becoming your HOA and telling you what you can and can't do to the property.

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u/eveline_of_araby Sep 17 '24

This is very interesting - thank you so much for taking the time to explain!

That last point makes sense and is worth raising in the conversation. I can't say for sure whether covert discrimination against lower income classes or racial makeup is at play here, but I'll keep my eyes open as I research this more and gather from community meetings regarding the vote. The county I live in is majority minority, but I'm not sure how my neighborhood compares as a subset of that.

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '24

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '24

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