ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Thursday, July 19, 2007

RANDY NAVAROLI
ThisWeek Staff Writer

A proposal to create neighborhood conservation districts throughout Columbus as a way to preserve a community's character is getting mixed reviews from area leaders.

Columbus City Council is expected to vote on the proposal July 23.

The city plans to initially designate three communities as neighborhood conservation districts, according to city historic preservation officer Randy Black. The three selected communities will serve as trial communities to determine if the program is sustainable.

Each neighborhood that seeks the designation must assemble at least a 10-block area that has an identifying, distinctive atmosphere or character, according to the proposed legislation. At least 60 percent of the area's property owners must agree to the designation.

According to the legislation, the conservation neighborhoods would promote and conserve unique neighborhood features; enhance the essential character and diversity of neighborhoods; stabilize property values; foster civic pride and increase the city's tax base.

Black said the legislation represents another important tool community leaders could use to influence future development in the neighborhoods.

"These areas would be designated by the neighborhoods themselves, not by the city," he said. "The designation wouldn't be tied to the age of the homes or the community in any way, which means more areas of the city might be able to fall under the designation."

Black said once the program is instituted, the first neighborhood designated as a conservation district would be used as a pilot program.

Northland Community Council president Dave Paul said the new legislation, if approved, could be useful in parts of Northland.

"It sounds like some of the concepts behind it could benefit places like Forest Park, which has a certain consistency to its style," he said. "When the legislation is final, we'll have a better idea of how we may be able to use it in Northland."

Clintonville Area Commission member Paul Harris says the city's plan to create neighborhood conservation districts is a mistake.

Harris, the District 6 representative to the CAC, cited the potential erosion of individual property rights and fuzzy language in the legislation as his two primary concerns.

"In my view, we are on the wrong side of history if the proposed Conservation Neighborhoods legislation is approved," he said. "I feel strongly that while the goal of improving Columbus neighborhoods is laudable, legislation that may place additional and onerous restrictions on the rights of residential and commercial property owners is not."

Councilwoman Maryellen O'Shaughnessy supports the proposal.

"This would set up the enabling legislation to allow neighborhoods to identify architectural structures that they think are important to preserve so there is continuity in the area's aesthetics," said Lelia Cady, O'Shaughnessy's legislative aide. "It's up to the neighborhoods to decide whether they want to pursue the designation."

Harris, who called for an opt-out provision for homeowners who oppose the conservation district designation, also said he is concerned that it could erode property values. He questioned the terminology used in the proposed legislation.

"Legislation that is chock full of ambiguous, elusive terms such as a neighborhood's 'culture,' its 'rhythm,' its 'texture' will have attorneys statewide licking their chops," Harris said. "In my opinion, the proposed ordinance, with its squishy, unclear language, is a tangle of lawsuits waiting to be filed.

"The minute we try to accomplish preservation through legislation rather than through voluntary means, then you've lost me and many others who place primacy on personal property rights and the Constitution," he said.

The proposed legislation mirrors that of several other major U.S. cities, including Atlanta and Boston. If approved in Columbus, the city would codify future development in and around designated neighborhood conservation districts in order to maintain their character.