Officials strive to get ‘back to basics’ with historic preservation master plan

BIRMINGHAM – When the Metropolis of Birmingham despatched out a survey in 2024 asking residents in the event that they consider historic preservation is a worthwhile purpose, 94% of the 201 respondents stated “sure.”

This public response displays the continued efforts of Nicholas Dupuis, Birmingham’s planning director and the Historic District Fee, Dupuis stated. Though town has been engaged on historic preservation for the reason that Seventies, there has by no means been a grasp plan for historic preservation.

Hoping to construct a robust tradition of historic preservation in Birmingham, town has been engaged on a historic preservation grasp plan. The survey they despatched out in 2024 was supposed to solicit public suggestions from residents.

“That survey actually helped us. To be trustworthy, it instructed us what we have been already feeling, however we felt it was actually invaluable that we validated it with our group,” Dupuis stated.

Historic District Fee member Dustin Kolo stated this is a crucial second for Birmingham. “Lots of our sources are going to change into historic within the subsequent 10 to twenty years,” he stated.

Kolo stated town needs to provide residents the chance to designate their properties as a historic useful resource and “be certain that we seize these sources which might be industrial within the areas of town that change into historic in order that we are able to be certain that they’re preserved and guarded.”

Approaches to Historic Preservation

There are regulatory and non-regulatory approaches to historic preservation. Regulatory approaches are “managed by legal guidelines and laws, and the appliance of strict tips,” whereas non-regulatory approaches depend on “voluntary motion, incentives and training,” in keeping with the draft plan.

In accordance with the survey, almost 70% of respondents needed a mix of each regulatory and non-regulatory approaches, which Dupuis stated is “proper, by way of what we expect an excellent historic preservation program ought to be.”

The draft grasp plan for monument care

The draft units out three objectives for the plan: ‘Return to fundamentals’, ‘Embrace proactivity’ and ‘Inform and have interaction’.

For every purpose there’s a listing of actions, together with initiatives that may assist town obtain every purpose. Nevertheless, the draft plan notes that it’s “formidable” and that timelines might “ebb and move.”

Some examples of actions within the draft embody: “undertake an ordinance to delay demolition,” “produce up to date historic plaques for all designated historic buildings within the Central Enterprise Historic District,” and “enhance and regularize enforcement of upkeep necessities to make sure that historic supplies are usually not misplaced to neglect.”

This matter was an agenda merchandise on the Jan. 12 Metropolis Fee assembly, after press time. For updates on the grasp plan approval, please go to bhamgov.or the place the agenda, assembly packet and movies of the Metropolis Fee conferences can be found.