This meeting focused on two presentations. The first, by Candace Volz, was about National Register Districts. The second presentation, by Steve Sadowsky,described the City of Austin's new Local Historic District Zoning. Both of these efforts are related to decisions the Rosedale Neighborhood Association is facing in its attempt to maintain the character of the neighborhood in the face of increasing development from both the outside and within.
In the spring of 2000, TXDOT had plans to widen MOPAC, directly affecting lots of adjoining properties. Candace Volz and Terri O'Connell led a group that attempted to ameliorate the effect by securing National Register District status for the area bounded by Enfield to 35th street and Lamar to Mopac (1600 households, spanning several neighborhood associations).
A National Register District (NRD) would help in this instance, because when any federal money is spent in an NRD, there are specific guidelines. This often results in a multi-year negotiation process with the NRD. In this case, the mere potential of a multi-year delay in the TXDOT process was enough to achieve this group's goals.
An NRD was also attractive because it imposed no property rights restrictions, and hence would probably raise little resistance among the property owners in the proposed district.
In order to qualify as a National Register District, 51% of the houses must be at least 50 years old, there must be a community history, and there must be a defined community architecture. (Two other criteria were not discussed because they were not used by this group.) The applicants must provide the information that supports the claim to NRD status.
The entire area was divided into 27 zones for a complete survey of every house in the area. They recruited block captains and amassed photos and historical information. This information was given to a consultant who developed the community and architecture criteria that were the basis for the application. Certain houses contributed to the case, meaning that these houses retained the qualities that defined the historical character of the area, while other houses were defined as non-contributing. In the end, according to the criteria defined by the professional (and accepted by the NRD), about 60% of the neighborhood houses met the criteria, and they were granted NRD designation. TXDOT was discouraged and focused their time/money on south Austin.
This approach involved significant costs. It took three years, incredible amounts of volunteer time, and lots of money. They paid their consultant $55,000, some of which they collected through flyers to the residents (listing who was contributing and who was not).
A drawback to this approach is that it is only in force when federal money is spent on a project in the NRD. Thus, other types of undesired development cannot be held in check by the NRD designation. This group is currently updating their survey and plan to work toward establishing the area as a Local Historic District (segue to next presentation).
The city has approved establishment of Local Historic Districts (LHD) for the City of Austin. An LHD will mandate reviews of all building permits within the district, with criteria including scale, massing, window patterns, materials. The city will not impose any restrictions on the guidelines that the LHD establishes. However, the guidelines and review are advisory only (the applicant is not required to adhere to the "advice").
Establishing an LHD is a process similar to that for the NRD. The boundaries of an LHD need not match neighborhood association boundaries. There must be a survey and inventory of all property. A set of criteria must be developed that define the character of the district. The houses must be 50 years old, 51% of the houses must be contributing, and 51% of the property owners must support the LHD designation (legal details in this last area are not yet defined). The application goes to the Historic Landmark Commission and the City Council for approval. If approved, houses in the area are granted a "HD" zoning (e.g. existing SF3 zoning will change to SF3-HD).
Unlike an NRD, the LHD does provide a residential tax break. If an owner spends 25% of the existing structure value on rehabilitation of the structure, their property values (with respect to city taxes only) are frozen at the pre-improvement level for seven years.
Currently, there are no plans to increase the effectiveness of enforcement with respect to this new program (nor with respect to the existing building permit process, but that discussion was outside the focus of this meeting, so it is omitted from this summary).
Steve assumed that the cost of getting an LHD would be as significant as with an NRD, given that hiring a consultant to devise the criteria seemed crucial to the success of the application.
Information about the Local Historic District process should be finalized and on-line by this summer.