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Golden Historic Preservation Board seeks to expand

Contributed by: Ed Dorsey on 2/21/2007

Golden's Historic Preservation Board (HPB) has been working the last couple of years to strengthen and update the Municipal Code concerning historic preservation.

These latest proposed revisions surfaced at an open house hosted by HPB in January. (Earlier revisions had been reviewed by City Council about a year ago). It was obvious that much work had been done in the past year based on a notion that HPB should give themselves the decision-making authority rather than City Council.

Currently, it is Council who makes the final decision on matters affecting all City Boards and Commissions, with the exception of GURA, who operate under State Law and not City Code. It is unclear why HPB felt they should take this approach or if anyone encouraged them to do so.

HPB noted at the open house that their approach in the past year was to compare Golden's historic preservation code to other municipal entities in the State.

They mentioned that there were 106 of these entities yet the matrix they distributed at the open house only detailed ten of them, including Golden.

When asked where Golden ranked, they said near the bottom among other municipalities, so one can assume they looked at all 106 of them.

The nine other entities in the matrix included Aspen, Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, Castle Rock, Glenwood Springs, Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Idaho Springs.

According to HPB, if the proposed revisions were enacted, Golden would rank second only to Aspen in the control of and authority over matters deemed historic. I don't know about other Goldenites, but I didn't decide to live in Golden with the hope that it would become an Aspen or Boulder or be similar to larger cities like Denver, Fort Collins or Colorado Springs.

A summary of the proposed changes include:
· HPB would transform itself from an advisory board to City Council to one that has binding authority in historic matters whereby City Council becomes an appeal board. They would be the only Board/Commission in the City where Council doesn't make the final decision. Changing the regulations for existing historic districts and sites without grand fathering current agreements and regulations.
· Adding new regulations for new districts and sites.
· Giving City Council the authority to designate very important sites as Local Landmarks without owner approval.
· Giving HPB demolition review over any structure in the city over 50 years old. (Yes, that is ANY structure)

Here are some of the details on the proposed revisions.

For current districts, HPB proposes that they have the power to approve or deny demolition requests, subject to appeal to City Council. Under current regulations, they can only issue a 180-day stay.

They also want the authority to require substantial compliance with yet to be finalized guidelines for proposed alterations or additions to existing structures. (Note: One such guideline requires that the alteration or addition must maintain the historic character of the structure (who interprets that?). Currently, HPB can only advise owners through their Certificate of Appropriateness review.

For any new districts or sites, HPB would not only have the same authority it proposes for existing districts and sites, but would add binding authority to approve or deny alterations or additions to new sites or contributing structures in new districts.

HPB proposes that it have the authority to review all demolition requests for any structures in the City over 50 years ago. They could require 180-day stays of demolition in cases they feel are warranted.

City Council would be given the authority in the proposed revisions to designate (based on HPB review and recommendation) important sites or structures, built before 1920 and eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, as Local Landmarks. This could be done without owner approval and over the objections of the owner (can't you see the lawsuits?).

After such designation, HPB would have binding authority to approve or deny demolition, alteration and additions to such sites or structures, subject to City Council appeal.

I oppose these proposed revisions.

While I support historic preservation in principle, I believe it should be voluntary with owner approval. I am a strong supporter of property rights. I oppose rewriting the rules for existing districts and structures without any ability to grandfather those who want it.

And lastly, I strongly oppose changing the duties of HPB from advisory to one with binding authority without City Council decision-making oversight. It is City Council that is elected and responsible to the electorate not the appointed members of a Board or Commission. Why not strengthen the code as was proposed a year ago without giving HPB binding authority and the ability of stepping on the property rights of individual owners.

If you are a landowner and want to maintain control of property you have invested your hard-earned money in, I suggest you weigh in on this issue. I emphasize that it is still in the proposal stage, so now is the time to let your position be known.

I suggest you email your comments to City Planner Steve Glueck (Staff liaison to HPB) at sglueck@cityofgolden.net or to City Council at citycouncil@cityofgolden.net

If you want to see more debate on the issue of historic preservation vs. property rights, visit http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n10_v10/ai_14895986

Ed Dorsey is a resident of Golden.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Ed Dorsey

Golden , CO

Ed Dorsey has posted 42 stories and 3 comments since joining on 2/21/2007. Ed Dorsey 's average story rating is 5.
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