Continuing a long-standing commitment to preserving historic structures, Highland Park officials have created a 30-day waiting period for demolition permits.
The wait will create a window of opportunity for the Highland Park Historic Preservation Commission to determine whether the building slated to come down is historically significant.
If the structure is deemed significant, the commission would be granted another 60 days to convince the property owner to reconsider the plans or to find a buyer who would respect the historic significance of the structure, said city planner Dinah Wayne.
The so-called demolition delay ordinance was approved unanimously recently by the City Council. The ordinance will not apply to demolition permits already pending.
The decision ends five months of discussion in Highland Park about teardowns–an issue that has vexed more than one community on the North Shore as homes continue to get ever bigger.
What disturbs preservationists is the trend by builders to tear down houses and replace them with larger and more modern homes, but structures that often are out of character with the neighborhood.
In Highland Park alone, 27 homes were torn down in 1997, up from 20 in 1996.
“The mayor and city council have stepped up to the front of the line in responding to a problem, which is not unique to Highland Park,” said Howard Eglit, chairman of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission. “We hope this will give pause to some people who otherwise might have torn down their houses. It just gives us a little time to bring to bear some sober second thought.”
In Skokie, the Village Board voted to restrict the size of buildings to ensure that new homes and additions to existing homes do not radically change the character of the community.
The demand for the restrictions on larger homes is usually due to aesthetics or because of the disruption that building such a large home brings to an area.
But in Highland Park, officials were seeking to broaden their ability to salvage homes that enhance the community because of the history they contribute.
State preservationists credited the city with including all structures–not only those designated as historic–in the ordinance.
And that was apparently enough to cause the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago to back off.
“The home builder’s association respects historic preservation in the balance of home builder’s rights,” said Bruce Deason, assistant vice president for government affairs.
“This is probably one of the stronger ordinances you will see,” said Michael Ward, local government services coordinator for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.
Such dedication to preservation issues earned the city the designation of Certified Local Government in 1985, Ward said.
The designation is made by the National Park Service to recognize communities that model strict and successful preservation programs. Today there are just 43 Illinois towns on the list.
The Highland Park ordinance, however, has been criticized as unfair by some builders, real estate agents and residents.
Henry X. Arenberg has been a Highland Park resident since 1930 and has worked on preservation committees and helped research historic structures in the town. But he doubts the delay will work and said that the commission ought to be willing to allow more teardowns anyway.
“What people are trying to do in this town is draw a line in the sand and say: `No more houses, no more condos. And they can’t do that. This isn’t Williamsburg, Va. Teardowns have been going on for ever and ever in Highland Park.”
