InDecatur morns the loss of Decatur High Stadium, with a full report from last night’s Decatur City Commission meeting where commissioners approved a new master plan for the high school complex.

Green space seems to be a key concern of the DHS master plan, with the biggest change being the replacement of the current parking lot behind the stadium with plans for a quad in the long term. See InDecatur’s post for many more details of the meeting including a bizarre altercation between the mayor and a resident identified as “Paul”, who “implied he knew why he was not being given the respect the Commission usually offered others, and would make that public.” Uh…OK.

David goes on to accept some of the blame for the stadium’s demise, along with other DHS alums. “We, the alumni of DHS and friends of history, have to take some blame here. Had we started a SAVE OUR STADIUM campaign back in late summer, when we first learned of the plan, and had we developed and presented alternative plans, this travesty might have been prevented.”

I, for one, like the new plan’s inclusion of more green space and the new auditorium, but do believe the stadium might have been saved through remodeling and incorporated into the new plan rather easily. Especially if the new men’s and women’s locker rooms, which was a main justification for a new stadium, will be housed in the new auditorium anyway [according to inDecatur].

The Decatur Stadium issue is a perfect example of the struggle preservationists are currently having with themselves over their own philosophy. For 50 years, preservationists have waved the flag of mixed-use development, maintaining green space and retaining character, because these were the qualities of the downtowns and neighborhoods that were under attack by urban renewal.

Today, the argument has been turned on its head.

Those early examples of urban renewal (1950s, 1960s), many of them not so esthetically-pleasing (to put it nicely), are becoming historic and are being threatened by more thoughtful development that considers and incorporates many of the things preservationists used to call to their side to support their arguments. Regardless of aesthetics, people’s lives have been tied to these buildings through years of use and these folks will stand up in support of them.

So preservationists stand at a crossroads. Are you in favor of good, community-centered design or do you believe that anything over 50 years old has the right to be historic regardless of how unattractive it may be? The answer is not an easy one, each side has its merits. But as this internal battle continues to rage, our physical landscape will continue to be shaped by these combating views.

Where will Decatur come down on this issue?

My own view is that, like with Decatur High Stadium, there will be those to voice opposition to the destruction of our more recent historic structures, however in the end aesthetics rule public opinion. It would be difficult to believe that the outcry for Decatur stadium could ever be as loud as for a threatened Scottish Rite or Old DeKalb County Courthouse.

But one never knows. History and political views change. Remember that urban renewal happened only 40 years ago.