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Chicago s Landmark Commission moves may designate historic district
by Paulo H WintersteinJuly 07, 2005
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks Thursday moved along a recommendation to designate a part of East Village on the Northwest Side as a historic district over angry objections from some neighborhood residents.
Under the proposal, 195 houses and businesses in East Village, tucked just east of Ukrainian Village, would be designated as the East Village District.
This designation would prevent the demolition of buildings deemed to be historically significant as well as restrict the kinds of developments that can go up in the area. Any major modifications to the 195 buildings being considered for special status would require permits--as is necessary for projects anywhere in the city. But given the proposed designation of the East Village District, permits for projects within that zone would get closer scrutiny from city officials.
Ald. Manny Flores (1st), who spoke in support of creating the historic district in his ward, told the board that in the past five years about one fourth of the properties in the neighborhood have been demolished, with haphazard development taking their place.
"We need the landmark district to have sustainable long term development in a way that will benefit all members of the East Village community," said Flores.
Property values in historic districts tend to increase faster than the property values in surrounding districts, according to a summary of 11 studies provided by Flores office.
Supporters of the historic district also cited the positive effects that preservation has on encouraging neighborhood pride and discouraging shoddy construction.
Now that the preliminary proposal has been voted on, it returns to the Department of Planning and Development before it is passed on to Chicago City Council for a final vote. If the historic designation is approved, the East Village properties would join the more than 6,000 buildings that currently make up Chicago's 38 historic districts.
But it is likely that disapproving residents will turn up again to oppose the move, which, at the earliest, would be voted on by the full council during the July 27 meeting.
"I do believe in preserving old homes, but not in the form it's taken today," Kevin Kuster, 35, a creative consultant from East Village, told the commission. "[Landmarking] needs to be incentive-based so that people like myself who have fixed up two old homes want to get on board. Right now it's being used to stop and deter new development."
The city could more effectively encourage residents to preserve landmarks if it modified its landmark regulations to something similar to the Historic Chicago Bungalow Initiative, which provides financial and technical assistance to bungalow owners, Kuster said in an interview following Thursday's committee meeting.
Current tax incentives are just a "façade" and aren't sufficient to offset the costs of maintaining these historic buildings, said East Village resident Swithin Simons. Simons questioned whether the city was taking a close enough look at the buildings it deemed to be historical, claiming that many buildings included in the district are structurally unsound.
But for East Village resident and real estate agent Carol Mrowka, the problem is simply a matter of respecting her rights.
"I oppose the manner in which this has been done," Mrowka said. "No one asked me before this decision came about. This is my property, not yours."
posted by Carol M. @ 9:39 AM
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