Post in Historic Preservation --Is it necessary?

May 08 14:01 UTC

Actually, funny that you ask - I was at Upper Arlington's Historic Preservation
Task Force meeting until 10pm last night. As a member of the HPTF we've been
working to come to a consensus on implementing some HP legislation in UA. Even
with the strong history in UA with many of the major developers of post 1900
Central Ohio having lived in our community we have never had HP legislation.
Losing homes like the Spanish House, the Rhodes House, etc has made UA look bad
from an HP standpoint and has (from the standpoint of a preservationist like
myself) been very bad for our community on a whole. UA and Whitehall are the
only two inner-ring suburbs with no HP legislation to date. Most of the suburbs
adjoining Columbus just outside of 270 also have HP legislation.

The biggest issue we've faced in UA is the property rights extremists who say
"this is my house and I can do what I want with it" which is just a ridiculous
notion when you live in a highly populated area. Social norms are necessary to
keep the peace. Suggesting that your right to destroy your property supercedes
your neighbors or your communities desire to maintain a stated standard is
devisive at best. However it is important to both recognize that people do and
should have a certain level of permission to do what is right for them with
their property otherwise there is no sense in owning property.

Our group has come to a concensus of supporting a non restrictive policy
towards demolition which requires a waiting period during which education must
take place in an attempt to change the property owners mind. This is far from
where I would like the legislation to be but it is a step in the right
direction and I think that is important enough to get me to support it.

HP legislation is shown time and again (do a google search and you'll see what
I mean) to be beneficial to communities when well written. Poorly written HP
legislation will actually cause more demolition because that is the easier
route to take. Communities which have done a good job of preservation generally
have a higher property value, higher community involvement and an overall
improved quality of life rating.

When you look at the benefits of HP you start to see that it is as much about
accepting a societal shift as anything else though. Property Rights activists
are essentially saying "I'm looking out for me, not you, and I am an island to
myself." This attitude fly's in the face of community building. By accepting HP
you start to realize that the community at a whole is as important (if not more
important) than me as an individual.

It is that mental shift that leads people to concern for the less fortunate or
capable of their own communities as well. At that point we all start to see a
better world.

Andrew
http://elephantsonbicycles.com