The Orlando City Council voted 4-2 Monday to approve a three-year suspension on the existing review process for development proposals in the city’s Downtown Historic District.
The eight-block area in Downtown Orlando is the oldest of the city’s six historic preservation districts. Designated in 1980, it includes some 80 buildings, many of which were built between the 1880s and early 1940s.
“The Downtown Historic District designation has helped preserve buildings that would otherwise be demolished due to the rapid rate of growth and demand for commercial space in the downtown,” according to the city’s website.
Now, many worry the initiative approved Monday will undermine those preservation efforts.
What will change?
Right now, any change to the exterior of a building in a historic district requires a certificate of appropriateness.
The certificate ultimately gets approved by the City Council. But first, it must be recommended for approval by the Historic Preservation Board. City staff say that review step from the citizen board creates too many challenges for developers looking to invest in Orlando’s downtown core.
The three-year moratorium approved Monday will pause that requirement for a certificate of appropriateness. It will also temporarily hand off the preservation board’s authority to the Appearance Review Board, which does not take historic preservation into account. The ARB reviews development proposals for other buildings located downtown but outside of the historic district.
More ‘predictability’
David Barilla heads up the city’s Downtown Development Board and Community Redevelopment Agency. On Monday, Barilla said property owners seek more “predictability” from the city’s review process so they can make effective investments in the city’s downtown core.
“We all know the best way to preserve buildings is to have them activated and not be vacant and left to deteriorate over time,” Barilla said.
Several developers urged city commissioners to approve the ordinance on Monday, including Brian Wilson. He owns a mid-rise brick building at 1 S. Orange Ave, originally built in 1913. Wilson said redeveloping the structure was a “nightmare,” and that, given the choice, he wouldn’t go through the city’s existing review process for historic buildings again.
Ultimately, Wilson wound up feeling satisfied with the final product, he said. “My building is beautiful. I’m thrilled with the way it turned out.”
But to get to that point, Wilson and his partner spent more than $1 million to meet what Wilson characterized as “unnecessary” demands from the city.
“If you want money invested, you need to be able to have a series of objective realities that people know going in: of what's going to be allowed, not allowed, so they can see if it's worth doing,” he said.
History at stake
Planning Division Manager Jason Burton said the goal of the moratorium is to revitalize buildings in the Downtown Historic District.
“The goal is not demolition of buildings,” he said.
But many who spoke in opposition of the ordinance took issue with that framing, including District 4 Commissioner Patty Sheehan.
Sheehan argued in a presentation Monday that demolition would be a likely outcome of the ordinance, which she urged her colleagues to reject.
“Guess what? If you don't have historic preservation, you will have demolition. That's just how it works,” Sheehan said. “Historic preservation stops demolition. That's what historic preservation does.”
Author Rick Kilby has given presentations on Downtown Orlando’s history. He said the city’s story is written in its historic buildings.
“If we lose those buildings, we do not just lose bricks and mortars,” Kilby said. “We lose the people, the struggles, and the dreams that built this city. We lose part of Orlando's soul.”
Over the three years of the moratorium, city staff plan to study its effect on redevelopment and economic stimulus in the downtown core. That strategy doesn’t make sense for Scott Sidler, a restoration contractor who formerly chaired the historic preservation board.
“You're removing protections from some of your most treasured pieces of history to study what happens? That's like leaving the henhouse open to investigate whether the fox will come,” Sidler said. “This ordinance will leave permanent scars on our city that you can't vote away in three years.”
Ultimately, the change could become permanent. It could also be terminated in less than three years, according to the terms of the ordinance.
The CRA advisory board will consider at its July meeting a tax incentive proposal to accompany the moratorium, Barilla said. The goal would be to incentivize property owners to “preserve the historic elements and character of properties.”
Sheehan and District 6 Commissioner Bakari Burns cast the two dissenting votes Monday. The City Council delayed the effective date of the ordinance until Aug. 10. The state’s Division of Historical Resources had sent a letter warning the city it could fall into “bad standing” and risk future grant funds if it changed rules without giving 30 days’ notice.
