Comments on: Ponce Court Makes Georgia Register of Historic Places

By: cubalibre

cubalibre — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 19:04:57 +0000

Precisely, stg– you said it better than I did.

By: nelliebelle1197

nelliebelle1197 — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:00:17 +0000

A handful? I am going to put anything that is two stories and taking up every inch of space smack in the middle of block of single story homes in that category for me. There are two in one block on East Lake; three on two blocks of Fayetteville; 5 on three blocks of McCoy, a pile on Mead…I can keep going.

I did say before it was a taste thing; some of my dear friends live in those kind of houses! And I can’t judge it, really, even though it may sound like it, because it breaks down to my sensibility and what I think works versus what others think. I don’t have to love it, but I have to respect it because the homeowners and builders are only do what they want to do and what the code allows them.

By: nelliebelle1197

nelliebelle1197 — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:49:37 +0000

I agree- I am referring to the lawyer and not the residents. I overstated that.

By: smalltowngal

smalltowngal — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:22:42 +0000

“anyone who believes a local historic district is bad and takes away ability to do what you want with your house, I challenge you to contact Michae =l or his staff at the Atlanta History Center or Richard Laub and Tim Crimmins at GSU and ask them for an explanation of what the district means to residents.”
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One more thing….I don’t mean at all to argue against LHDs categorically. But anyone who doubts that local historic preservation CAN take away the ability to do what you want with your house should read proceedings of most any Decatur historic preservation commission meeting in the past few years. LHD “guidelines” CAN be extremely powerful and CAN leave tremendous latitude for arbitrariness and capriciousness on the part of the commission, depending on how they are written. It’s altogether too easy, if you find yourself wielding only hammers, for everything to look like a nail.

By: smalltowngal

smalltowngal — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:17:49 +0000

“…I know … a little bit about the opposition’s story as well.”
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With all due respect, nellie, I feel compelled to point out a couple of things myself. One is that opposition to the Oakhurst LHD application was by no means monolithic–there wasn’t a single “opposition’s story.” In fact, some of the bitterest parting of ways occurred among people who initially thought they were of one mind, until they began to parse each others’ reasons for opposing the application. Some were (and remain) against anybody telling anybody else what to do with their own property. Some had problems with how the whole thing got started. Some consider local historic districts to be a sneaky proxy for design ordinances which can smack of suburbanesque HMA covenants. Some believe fervently in local historic preservation but object to the way Decatur has gone about it. Some think Decatur’s LHD process is fine but that it was mis-applied in the case of the Oakhurst application (and don’t necessarily agree among themselves about whether or not it was done nefariously).

While I am not personally acquainted with the lawyer from Kirkwood who represents developers (I don’t think), there was a substantial groundswell of opposition to the application that arose independently of outside agitation. It stands to reason at least some developers perceived an opportunity (and/or a threat) and fanned flames. But the debate was going to happen, regardless.

One more thing worth noting, IMO, is this: I’m generally a big fan of Decatur city government and city management. But when the City gave every indication of complete and unwavering support to an LHD application that originated so stealthily, it effectively made a lot of residents feel totally disenfranchised. That contributed significantly, IMO, to the degree of shrillness and bitterness that wound up being expressed in public (and certainly in private) discussions.

Personally, I hope it doesn’t take another ten years for the topic to re-emerge in Oakhurst, and I hope that when it does, cooler heads will prevail enabling an open, candid, adult process to unfold, one that results in a solution that is appropriate for this part of town.

BTW, my congratulations to the folks on Ponce Place. That little street is indeed a gem, and I’m glad they found a way to preserve it and live in it at the same time!