City staff begins re-evaluation of historic commissions processes

Friendly Wills former church, which was built in 1945, was listed on the survey as a medium-priority structure; however, because of its historic context as a predominately black church, the structure could qualify to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a city staff report.

The Georgetown building officials report said the churchs poor condition and structural integrity made it appear to meet the citys definition of a dangerous building or structure, but did not that mean the structure would immediately collapse.

HARC

The city of Georgetown established the HARC in 2001 to review plans for exterior changes to buildings, sites or signs in the historic and downtown overlay districts and issue certificates of design compliance. The HARC uses the citys unified development code, or UDC, and downtown design guidelines when making decisions about development or changes to existing structures, HARC Chairwoman Anna Eby said.

Because we have these technical and specific documents that are governing us, when you apply them and you have a couple of different ones working together, sometimes they can create odd situations, Eby said.

The commission is appointed by City Council and is made up of seven members, including property owners in the overlay districts as well as licensed architects, professional planners, developers, historians or realtors.

With how much importance the city puts on downtown and Old Town, there needs to be some sort of process to make sure they are taken care of without running roughshod over historic buildings, Eby said.

Georgetown Historic Planner Matt Synatschk said the HARC had 63 certificate of design compliance cases in 2013 with no appeals to City Council, and of 2014s 19 certificate cases to date, the Friendly Will Baptist Church decision was the only one appealed.

On May 27, City Council approved a resolution to accelerate the citys UDC amendment process concerning updates to development standards, rules and procedures that affect properties in the downtown and Old Town overlay districts and/or on the citys Historic Resources Survey.

[City Council] wanted us to take a look at HARC holistically, Assistant City Manager Laurie Brewer said. [We are looking] for areas that we could improve upon and any changes we needed to make the HARC process easier for both the [HARC] commissioners as well as applicants to go through.

Amending the code

Hesser had proposed temporarily dissolving the commission but withdrew his motion and said he would put his trust in city staff to resolve HARCs issues.

My objective was if you disband it now, when the new appointments take office next year, we could have the policies overhauled, the flow of the paperwork overhauled, have new members involved that could be trained in the new policies in January or in early February, Hesser said. It just seemed like the message had gotten out, and maybe [the HARC process] could be fixed.

Brewer said city staffers have begun discussing possible updates to the UDC.

We have already identified some areas that we feel like sometimes cause either applicants or the commissioners some difficulty, she said.

One of the potential changes identified, Brewer said, was the process for listing properties on the Historic Resources Survey, which was updated in 2007 and lists properties throughout the city as low-, medium- or high-priority historic structures.

One of the common threads that we are seeing is that sometimes the individuals dont know and dont have any input on whether or not the structure that they own is designated, she said. Notification of [being listed] and some sort of process for when that changes is something everyone is pretty much in agreement on.

Synatschk said funding to update the survey was requested in the 201415 fiscal year budget, which could be approved by City Council in late August or September.

Brewer said requirements for demolition as well as how demolition fits in with the citys Building Standards Commission and classifying dangerous buildings could also change.

We just need to make sure there is no conflicting language in the UDC, she said.

Other possible changes to the UDC include making sure all boards and commissions have been considered before a proposal goes to City Council and making the HARC a resource for property owners, which could mean helping to identify funding for property owners when appropriate, Brewer said.

The UDC update process is expected to include meetings with stakeholders such as other city boards that deal with downtown, City Council, business owners and the general public, Brewer said. City Council could discuss staff recommendations for changes to the UDC in December or early January, she said.

Hesser said while he believes the HARC has issues it has also done good for the city, and he hopes the UDC update is completed and solutions to the problems are found.

I dont want us to believe [the issue] is behind us, he said. I want for it to continue. I would like to see the improvements made.