This morning’s WSJ has a half-way decent article about our demolition ordinance (yes, that was a compliment) and an upcoming conservation district ordinance. I’m currently sitting on a subcommittee of the Plan Commission that is looking at the City’s demolition ordinance. Our goals of that committee are to create a new ordinance that is more consistent with our current practices and create some clear, understandable criteria to make decisions and create more predictability for the folks you are trying to demolish buildings.
While we have decided to scrap the current ordinance, we have decided to try to create criteria that would be different for residential buildings and non-residential buildings. We are also going to have additional criteria for buildings over a certain age. In addition to these issues, the committee will be thinking about how to deal with some additional issues:
1. Demolitions by fire – and notice to neighbors.
2. How to deal with lakefront property demolitions
3. How do deal with mixed-use buildings and what criteria we will use for building with both residential and non-residential uses.
4. How to reuse and recycle buildings
5. Demolishing buildings that create a safety risk
6. Replacing affordable housing that is demolished
7. Moving houses
8. Penalities for demolition by neglect
9. Penalties for asking for a permit after a demolition has occurred
10. Requirements for the propoerty if a new use is not imminent (seeding/landscaping and grading)
At the same time that we are talking about the demolition ordinance, we should soon be seeing a Conservation District Ordinance that would:
1. Seek to preserve the essential character of unique neighborhoods in the City of Madison.
2. Have different criteria for each district that tailors the regulations to the attributes of the built environment that make the place unique.
3. Allow neighborhoods to prevent insensitive development, and promote better harmony between new and existing structures.
4. The Neighborhood Conservation Districts criteria would apply to all new construction, exterior alterations, additions and demolitions of structures on all zoning lots located in such districts.
5. To be considered for designation as a Neighborhood Conservation District, an area must meet the following minimum criteria:
a. Be of a minimum size.
b. The proposed area must possess consistent, identifiable built environment characteristics to be conserved.
c. The proposed area must contain at least one of the following features:
– Distinctive building attributes: scale, mass, distinctive architectural characteristics, e.g. front porches, height, roof styles
– Distinctive land use patterns: mixed uses, parks/open spaces, or unique uses or activities
– Distinctive streetscape characteristics: lighting, street layout and materials
– Distinctive lot features: lot layouts, setbacks, alleys
– Location near designated historic landmarks and/or districts.
The biggest battle over the conservation district ordinance will likely be the neighborhoods fighting to get the City resources to create conservation districts in their neighborhoods. Neighborhoods are lining up at the moment . . .
