2007-12-03 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

5 Mr. Norris said he has heard a number of concerns about the national and state application, but mostly due to the local designation. He said he wants to make clear that Council will not move forward with a local conservation district unless there is strong neighborhood support for design control. He said he supports some kind of design control to prevent demolition and to protect the neighborhood, but he will not impose it on the neighborhood unless they want it. He said some ask why the City is spending time on the historic designation in Fifeville, but is not stepping up efforts about issues such as gentrification and traffic. He said some say that Fifeville is not sufficiently historic, but he disagrees with that. He said he favors the federal and state designation with the caveats he has addressed. Dr. Brown said he agrees with everything Mr. Norris said. Mr. Lynch said he agrees with Mr. Norris, but is struck by the fact that the neighborhood is not crazy about the idea. He said historic designation is offered to residents as a tool to protect their neighborhood, but if they do not want it he does not want to force it on them. He said he does not see a compelling City need to force it on the neighborhood, and he is happy to let it go. Dr. Brown said that is not what he heard when he attended a meeting about the designation in Fifeville. He said people were highly skeptical of the design control, and were worried that the two were linked together. He said he did not hear objections to the state and federal designation. He said we need to make it clear that the state and federal designation is a stand alone process. Ms. Hamilton said she supports Dr. Brown’s comments. She noted that the designations are still linked in the staff report. She said a recommendation for a local designation should not be coming from staff, but should be coming from the neighborhood. She said national designation is a positive for the neighborhood. She expressed concern that people feel their work is being used, and that the original report did not include voices of African-Americans. She said the language needs to be clear that by supporting the national and state designation the City is not starting the conservation district process, and that needs to come from the neighborhood. Mr. Taliaferro said it is unfortunate that the designations got linked. He said he supports the national and state designation but not local design control. He said that should come from the neighborhood and should be spelled out. Mr. Norris made a motion to approve the national register application, amended to reflect that Council does not see it linked with the issue of local conservation, and unless and until there is neighborhood support the City will not move forward with local designation. Mr. Taliaferro seconded the motion. Ms. Hamilton asked that the motion be amended to add that the concerns with the narrative be addressed, and Mr. Norris and Mr. Taliaferro agreed to the amendment. The motion, as amended, was approved by the following vote. Ayes: Dr. Brown, Ms. Hamilton, Mr. Norris, Mr. Taliaferro. Noes: Mr. Lynch. REPORT : COMCAST Mr. Ric Barrick, Director of Communications, said that the report by a representative of Comcast is being made as a result of comments by Councilors about cable and internet issues. He said that staff looked at complaints made to the City, but noted that there is no mechanism in place that traces such complaints. He said it appears that the City has only received a handful of complaints over the past year. He noted that the franchise agreement with Comcast covers cable services only. He noted that there are elements in the agreement with Comcast that the City may want to take advantage of, including establishment of a cable advisory committee; special testing; programming survey; and the option of having three additional public access channels.