GoDeKalb prematurely writes off the Oakhurst Historic District in a report from the Decatur’s City Commission meeting last night, where opponents and proponents of the Oakhurst Historic District debated for more than two hours. According to the article, “Decatur officials voted to direct the City Manager to limit the use of city resources in processing a new historic district encompassing the former City of Oakhurst as annexed into Decatur”.

While I personally don’t believe that an Oakhurst Historic District can ever be created in such a hostile environment (since it is the voter-elected City Commission that creates historic districts and not the HPC), this vote still can’t completely “put the brakes” on a Oakhurst nomination. This isn’t a process that was started or is really supported by city staff other than to field inquiries by residents, which it should do for all district nominations. This nomination could still move forward if the neighborhood itself completed a historic resource survey of the entire district, which would undoubtedly take a substantial amount of time, but could in fact be done. Then the often unfairly slandered Historic Preservation Commission could review the nomination and RECOMMEND to the city commission whether or not the district was indeed “historic”. So while this vote by the city to minimize staff involvement might set proponents of the neighborhood back, it doesn’t halt the nomination entirely.

The article goes on to say that “City Manager Peggy Merriss said the City Attorney advised that the Commissioners could not intervene in an application until the HPC made a recommendation to them under the current ordinance. The Commissioners approved a second motion to ask the staff to review the historic preservation ordinance and to make recommendations on how to amend it.”

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