The City of Jamestown is pursuing establishing a Local Preservation Ordinance for historic structures in the City. City Principal Planner Ellen Shadle gave a presentation to the Jamestown Planning Commission about what a Local Preservation Ordinance, or LPO, would do including providing building stock with additional protections Federal protections do not address,
“An LPO expands the city’s toolbox in saving meaningful structures, having the ability to explore a range of options to unsightly or unsafe structures. The city is committed to striving for positive outcomes, from giving careful considerations to private property rights, concurrently with reviewing any individual’s actions on the community at large.”
Shadle says the National Historic Districts provides a tax credit for property owners while an LPO would protect buildings from unnecessary demolitions or insensitive rehabilitations,
“It also establishes a design review board, preservation commission and process, which are critical for securing local historic designations. An LPO enables a community to protect its sense of place, maintain and revitalize its downtown and older neighborhoods, increase community pride, and reinforce overall economic development.”
Planning Commission Chair Greg Rabb expressed concerns over costs to property owners of maintaining historic structures, especially in a city with with a poor and aging community,
“We need to be very careful that you’re talking potentially to private property owners about having their property rights. And I’m not one of those flag waving conservative property rights guys, but your property rights to a certain extent, you lose some control over your private property and that could become a highly emotional issue.”
Rabb said the city needs to be sensitive to how these ordinances are written because of how restrictive they can be.
Shadle says concerns like this will be able to be addressed in public informational sessions the city plans to hold on the Local Preservation Ordinance.
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