Posted May 31, 2009, 3:37 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Montgomery (Old Cloverdale)
Posts: 586
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Montgomery Should Play by the Rules
This guest editorial is in today's Montgomery Advertiser. I think Brandon did a good job of explaining the "objection" that lots of people had with the water tower at the Alley. What is done is done, but going forward...
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/arti...ces++Montgomery+should+play+by+the+rules
Alabama Voices: Montgomery Should Play by the Rules
May 31, 2009
By Brandon Brazil
The preservation community applauds the city's infrastructure improvements that have facilitated the recent downtown development and this city's leadership in bringing downtown back to life. We hoped the demolition of the wing of the old freight building for Biscuits stadium would spur new investment and rehabilitation of this district, and it has. The private investors, developers, and architects have been playing by the rules, coming before the Architectural Review Board and all their projects are being approved.
So why is the only group not playing by the rules this time the city itself?
Long before many people discovered downtown, residents of Montgomery's historic neighborhoods were supporting preservation through the city's Preservation Commission and Architectural Review Board. We chose to do this because we knew that people were more likely to invest in our area if there could be some kind of assurance about what goes on next door. Nobody wants anyone to tell him what color to paint his house, but nobody wants to live next door to a purple house, either.
This process works as long as everyone plays by the rules. Indeed, it has worked and local historic districts have enjoyed stabilized property values and benefited from increased investment.
As a member of the city of Montgomery's Architectural Review Board, I have been alarmed to see the city's handling of the Water Tower/Alleyway project. The city has chosen not to abide by its own rules by relocating a water tower on the sidewalk without seeking ARB approval. In reviewing this matter, the ARB denied the tower's placement.
The city chose to disregard the ARB concerns. It sends the wrong message to all the citizens who live in historic areas and who abide by the laws the city created to protect its unique historic areas. I am dumbfounded time and again when preservationists are continually told we are "stifling development."
There would not be historic buildings to rehabilitate were it not for the efforts of preservationists who had the foresight to protect them with a local ordinance in the 1960s and 1970s. This preservation has contributed to what makes Montgomery unique.
It is simply not the case that the Alleyway development would not happen if it were not for the placement of a water tower on the sidewalk. Because many of the buildings in the development are utilizing the federal historic preservation tax credit, I would argue that the Alleyway development would not have happened if there were no historic buildings to form the basis of the attraction. Preservationists had vision and worked diligently to garner protections for these buildings so that there could be appropriate redevelopment of these attractive historic buildings rather than all new construction downtown.
One might say that the historic preservationists were the advocates for downtown redevelopment before it was "cool."
But this issue is not about the water tower. More importantly, it is about the city's claims that it does not come under the jurisdiction of the ARB. The language of the ordinance, as enabled by state law, is this:
"The certificate of appropriateness {board approval} shall apply to public property which has been designated as a Historic Property or which is contained in a Historic District, and shall apply to all actions by public authorities that involve Historic Properties and properties within Historic Districts."
The Alleyway, and sidewalk on which the water tower sits, are within the boundaries of the district and are clearly public property. Therefore, changes within that area should have come before the board. Cities like Mobile, New Orleans, Savannah, and Charleston obey their preservation ordinance with good effect; just ask their mayors, their visitors, and their businesses that thrive from the tourism industry.
While we certainly commend those involved in this development and the city's efforts to spur development in the historic district, we only ask one thing: Simply play by the rules. We are hopeful that will happen. That way, we all win.
Brandon Brazil is an architectural historian
and one of nine members of the city's
Architectural Review Board that reviews
exterior changes in locally designated historic districts.
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