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9 Dr. Brown said that state and federal historic designation places no burden on any property owner. He said he does not disagree that communication has been poor. Ms. Scala said the designation is honorary and draws attention to the area as an important historic area. She said six meetings were held with the neighborhood last year and there was also a meeting in January 2007. Mr. Lynch asked about the sense of the neighborhood at the January meeting, and Ms. Scala said a half dozen or more had strong concerns. She said most sentiments expressed were concern. Mr. Lynch said it appears that it is not that the City was not communicating, but that it was not done in a way that was accepted. Dr. Brown asked if there is any evidence that state or federal designation causes property values to rise. Ms. Scala said that an argument could be made either way, and the answer is not definitive. Mr. Lynch said tax credits are benefits to property owners. He said additional work needs to be done with the neighborhood. Dr. Brown asked if a state and federal designation is necessary to create a conservation district, and does it have anything to do with individual designation, and Ms. Scala answered no to both questions. Mr. Taliaferro said we need to address the communication issue. Mr. Norris said it also appears to be an issue with longer term neighbors versus newer ones who are more likely to take advantage of tax credits. Mr. Tolbert said this is an example of working with people who attend meetings, then finding that there is another constituent group that does not agree with the proposal. He said a good turnout is needed at the April meeting. He said Council can hold its own public hearing. Mr. Lynch said he thinks we should work more with the neighborhood. He said historic designation allows people to do better renovations. Mr. Taliaferro said he would like Council to hold its own public hearing. Dr. Brown asked if we lose control once the application has been sent in. Ms. Scala said they want the locality to support the application. Dr. Brown asked if there are points when the City can say we do not want to see state and federal designation. Mr. Tolbert said that by taking the State’s money to do the work it may be out of our hands, but that need to be checked on. Dr. Brown said he agrees that Council should have a public hearing, and he suggested that it be held at Tonsler in order to have a better turnout. He said he would like to be clear on the conservation district rules before they are applied to neighborhoods. He said he does not want to see historic neighborhoods look totally different because there is no review. He said he would like to get the facts on whether Fifeville is vulnerable to demolition.