Council wants more incentives for historic preservation Council wants more incentives for historic preservation (December 05, 2003)

Creation of a historic zone gets support

By Candice Shih

With an April deadline looming, the City Council took a first stab at helping create a new historic preservation ordinance at a Tuesday study session.

Members of local historic preservation groups that were in attendance again brought up the controversial issue of whether to make participation in the ordinance mandatory or voluntary.

While the Environmental Planning Commission decided to recommend a mandatory ordinance last month, the council focused on other related issues.

Council members expressed their desire to see more incentives for property owners impacted by the ordinance and discussed the possible creation of historic neighborhoods.

Some members were especially interested in having the city's residents put money towards such an ordinance if it is shown to be of high priority.

"If it's going to be a community benefit, it needs to be a community expense as well," said Vice Mayor Matt Pear. He voiced concern for property owners whose finances would be negatively impacted because they might be forced to maintain a historic building.

Mayor Mike Kasperzak was similarly moved and asked the city staff to return to the council with information on how much it would cost the city to support the historic preservation effort.

During the study session, council member Greg Perry brought up the idea of hiring a consultant to identify architectural guidelines and apply those to the appropriate Mountain View neighborhoods.

The council was also curious about the idea of helping to create a "neighborhood design overlay zone," or historic district. Formation of such a zone would require participation and approval from the residents living within it.

While features of the ordinance, including the list of protected historic properties, have been discussed by the EPC in the past several months, the council will ultimately adopt a new ordinance to replace the interim ordinance that will expire in April.

The EPC will hold public hearings starting in late January, and the council is expected to hold similar hearings in March.

E-mail Candice Shih at cshih@mv-voice.com

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