Upcoming Public Meetings For Potential Elmwood Historic District

I fully suppport the entire area WEST OF MAIN STREET and EAST OF NIAGARA STREET (including areas of Black Rock) as a historical district).

However, a historical district should have infill requirements that exempt city zoning and architectural requirements to fit in with the periods of the historical district.

Its worth saying again...its time to consider what the residents of Elmwood really want. Do they want Elmwood to have a mix of residential and commercial or do they want it to become like Niagara Falls Blvd with nothing but stop & go retail.

Its time to start moving some of the retail off Elmwood and onto Grant & Niagara, Delware and Main.

Excellent PBN--this is great news.

This is actually awful news. I don't understand how once a historic district has been proposed, the process will continue to move forward unless 51% of property owners submit a letter of opposition to SHPO.

This will prevent many homeowners from being able to make improvements to their homes without getting approvals etc. God forbid you're a small business owner...

To me - Elmwood is not a historic district. Its history is rich with the evolution of urban change - evident in the dozens of former residences that have been expanded and converted to mixed use shop fronts along the street. The Elmwood area should continue to be a center in the city of progressive change to the built environment. As the district continues to grow in demand, it should be allowed (and facilitated) to grow and evolve accordingly - denser, with contemporary and often unique architecture. To enact a historic district, whether it be by property owner choice or not just does not make sense here. Outside of a few buildings, especially the churches, the area is not predominantly composed of buildings that need to be strictly preserved in their original historic importance.

The character of Elmwood is change, evolution and urban growth. Granted - we need to make sure its good change and good urban growth - but this street is not about keeping what is now, in perpetuity. A historic district is not in keeping with the character of Elmwood.

This district will trigger more intensive review and enforcement from SHPO on any project using grant or public funds. It will dictate that projects using these funds be restricted to preserving the historic character of each structure. I've also heard some alarming rumblings that the ultimate goal will be a local preservation district, down the road - which will be even more intensive scrutiny.

One question that will need to be asked at the public meeting - why is this historic district being pursued?? I have followed the project from afar - but I have not heard one resident express a desire for this project. The whole thing wreaks of consultants, PBN and SHPO making sure that they create revenue and work for themselves. Where has there been community demand? Has EVA requested this? Have block clubs requested this? Has a citizen-driven effort been formed to pursue this?

Being a resident and owning on Norwood the past 4 or so years....Can someone give me a list of Pros and Cons of this.....

Warning!! To the people of Elmwood Village, I would say don't do it. Strictly enforce your codified design standards but stay away from the rest. I had a house in such a district and after it was designated historic, they began telling you what kind of windows to put in, what type of roof you had to use (that was appropriate for when your house was built, unless grandfathered in) , and what type of fencing.etc. etc. etc. True story, they made a neighbor of mine pull off the siding he had just placed on his house, super wood became a no no. Oh, and anytime someone put in new windows the neighborhood busy body and her husband could be seen sneaking around taping on the window frames.

No, it had nothing to do with whether or not you took tax credits, baby girl. If you lived within the boundary of the district you had to adhere to the rulings of the preservation board. So the problem was not so easily solved. And it is a short step from the non binding national register to a full fledged historic preservation district and another layer of bureaucrats. After all why put a district rather than a building on the national register if that is not your ultimate goal.

I have to say its really nice to see the comment area being used to discuss the issue not bitch at each other. I was initially (and perhaps naively) excited about the possible historic elmwood district. After reading the discussion, I feel more informed about both sides of the issue and look forward to learning more at the meeting.

Who's preparing the nomination?

Just a cursory examination of the map shows how much effort and thought has gone into this project. The very definitive and exacting boundaries reflect this. What jumped off the page at me is the westward extension of Dorchester to include the beautiful homes that might have otherwise been omitted.

The last thing we need in the City of Buffalo is another historic preservation district. This will only help make this city even more unattractive to future investment and development. Why does everything have to be old and quaint? Not every Buffalonian wants to live in the past. A city is meant to change continously in terms of people and architecture. Making a city static and unchangeable will only hasten its urban decline. The proposal for Elmwood being a historic district is a horrible idea that needs to be killed dead for the sake of Buffalo's future.

I was just telling my neighbor yesterday that what Elmwood really needs is additional excessive regulations and further hindrances of a market economy in an already stabilized neighborhood. PBN needs new leadership and get its priorities right.

We need to galvanize the forces and stop this through voice and legal channels.

Oh yeah, more regulations and unnecessary hindrances to business development. It is the market economy that helped pull Elmwood back from the brink not that long ago. During the 1980s and 1990s, Elmwood was struggling with vacancies, crime, and low property values. The stabilization and revitalization of Elmwood came from business investment so back off on more strict regulations and hindrances because that could cause Elmwood to decline back to the bad old days of the 80s and 90s.

repeat after me: there are -no- restrictions placed on private property owners whose buildings are on the national register. none. zip. nada. zero.

straight from the horse's mouth:

"a property owner can do whatever they want with their property as long as there are no Federal monies attached to the property."

http://www.nps.gov/nr/faq.htm