Press Clips

Save Historic Norcross hosts historic preservation expert

Gwinnett Daily Post
(Reprinted by permission from the Gwinnett Daily Post)

By Carole Townsend
Staff Correspondent

NORCROSS - Save Historic Norcross, the city's fledgling grassroots historic preservation organization, hosted a meeting Thursday night featuring Jennifer Martin Lewis as the guest speaker.

Lewis, the certified local government coordinator for such organizations, presented a game plan to attendees explaining why historic preservation is necessary and outlining how to structure and enforce a preservation ordinance. Norcross had such an ordinance about 25 years ago, but it was rescinded in the late 1980s.

"In Georgia, the first step in preserving historic buildings is establishing a preservation ordinance," said Lewis. "Preservation has become popular because these buildings and areas are what make communities unique. Even new construction mirrors older architecture sometimes."

The Georgia Assembly passed the Georgia Historic Preservation Act in 1980, seeing a trend in cities across the state working toward preservation of precious history being lost to demolition, infill development and even neglect. In essence, the law provided guidelines for cities to follow in developing ordinances and enforcing them.

If the guidelines are not properly followed, said Lewis, any court cases that arise from enforcement could be thrown out.

One of the advantages of a city adopting its own preservation ordinance is that, on a local level, subject properties are identified and protected by citizens of that same city, including those who serve on the preservation commission.

While downtown Norcross is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, a local ordinance can more broadly define a protected area or property. This leeway allows commission members and government officials to define a historic district as an area rather than specific properties, even providing for a protective buffer zone for a designated district.

"There are a lot of myths about what a historic preservation commission does," Lewis said.

Many property owners say they prefer to not be included in an historic district, because they say they lose their rights as property owners.

A preservation commission can approve or deny major material changes to a property based on whether the planned changes are appropriate to the architectural style and the surrounding buildings.

"They can not regulate paint color, since painting a building is a temporary change," Lewis said. "But if a structure is built of brick and has never been painted, the commission can prevent the property owner from painting the building at all."

Lewis cited Madison, Ga., as a successful example of a city with a good historic preservation ordinance. "It's a beautiful city. For a long time they have paid attention to historic preservation. They bring in about $4 million annually in historic tourism money. There's a great economic advantage to preserving historic areas."

Anne Webb, president of Save Historic Norcross, said, "We're not against development. We just want to make sure that we don't lose what makes Norcross special."

"These ordinances are about the property, not the property owner," Lewis said. So while some may oppose such legislation as being too restrictive or in violation of their rights as individual home or business owners, Lewis said look for more cities to follow the preservation path in the future.

Lewis has worked with downtown revitalization programs in South Carolina and Georgia. For more information about historic preservation, visit www.gashpo.org. For more information about Save Historic Norcross, visit www.savehistoricnorcross.com.