An out-of-state developer recently purchased two houses next door to one another in one of Chapel 
Hill’s historic districts. The Historic District Commission is bracing for the prospect of demolition applications for the two gracious historic homes.
State law, which trumps local laws, does not protect historic properties. If a Historic District Commission denies a demolition request, state law allows the property owner to tear down any historic structures after waiting a year from the date of denial.
The waiting period is meant to enable the property owner and the HDC to work out a way to minimize the damage to the historic district that removing the vintage home and building a contemporary structure would cause, but there is no sanction against a property owner who refuses to engage in a discussion. The property owner can let the structure and grounds fall into disrepair during that waiting period.
What do we lose when we allow historic structures to be removed or demolished? Chapel Hill’s Historic District Commission has organized an informational program this coming Saturday, Dec. 1, beginning at 9:30 a.m. to educate the public on the value of historic buildings. Among the speakers will be Thompson Mayes, author of Why Old Places Matter, and Laurie Paolicelli, director of the Orange County Visitors Bureau.
North Carolina laws skew toward allowing a property owner to do whatever he or she wants with a property, and that comes at the expense of property owners who invest in historic homes. Even though older homes require more upkeep, houses in a historic district sell for a premium, because a buyer is purchasing the ambience of a neighborhood as well as an individual house and grounds. Whether the houses in historic neighborhoods are grand or small, they have unique architecture and often are surrounded by trees that have been thriving for generations. Whether the grounds feature expansive lawns or modest gardens, the neighborhoods take people back in time and offer a singular experience to anyone strolling through.
The town that boasts the nation’s oldest public university tends to draw visitors who appreciate historic districts. Paolicelli understands the revenue-generating potential that history-rich neighborhoods bring.
Mayes, who is the deputy general counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservations, discusses in his book the wide-ranging benefits to us as a society for preserving old places, from the continuity of who we were to who we have become, to the transformation of the ordinary into the beautiful that time bestows.
It falls to the HDC to protect the historic districts, making important judgment calls complicated by outdated guidelines and living with neighbors who may be disappointed by the commissioners’ decisions.
The program on Saturday runs from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is open to the public free of charge, but please RSVP to rsvpCHHDC [at] gmail.com so organizers will have sufficient food for lunch refreshments.
— Nancy Oates
Plurimus
/ November 25, 2018Nancy,
Not sure of the details here but wouldn’t 160A-400 provide for at least negotiation (Shall negotiate) and a remedy for demolition through neglect (ordinance)? Depending on the history, I think the argument for statewide significance could be made in the place of the first public university in the nation?
§ 160A-400.14. Delay in demolition of landmarks and buildings within historic district.
(a)An application for a certificate of appropriateness
authorizing the relocation, demolition or destruction of a designated landmark or a building, structure or site within the district may not be denied except as provided in subsection (c).
However, the effective date of such a certificate may be delayed for a period of up to 365 days from the date of approval. The maximum period of delay authorized by this section shall be reduced by the commission where it finds that the owner would
suffer extreme hardship or be permanently deprived of all beneficial use of or return from such property by virtue of the delay. During such period the preservation commission shall negotiate with the owner and with any other parties in an effort to find a means of preserving the building or site. If the
preservation commission finds that a building or site within a district has no special significance or value toward maintaining the character of the district, it shall waive all or part of such period and authorize earlier demolition, or removal.
If the commission or planning agency has voted to recommend designation of a property as a landmark or designation of an area as a district, and final designation has not been made by the local governing board, the demolition or destruction of any
building, site, or structure located on the property of the proposed landmark or in the proposed district may be delayed by the commission or planning agency for a period of up to 180 days or until the local governing board takes final action on the
designation, whichever occurs first.
(b) The governing board of any municipality may enact an ordinance to prevent the demolition by neglect of any designated landmark or any building or structure within an established historic district. Such ordinance shall provide appropriate safeguards to protect property owners from undue economic
hardship.
(c) An application for a certificate of appropriateness authorizing the demolition or destruction of a building, site, or structure determined by the State Historic Preservation Officer as having statewide significance as defined in the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places may be denied except where the commission finds that the owner would suffer extreme hardship or be permanently deprived of all beneficial use or return by virtue of the denial. (1989, c. 706, s. 2; 1991, c. 514.)