When some Prospect Park residents approached University of Minnesota city planner Greg Donofrio nearly a year ago about researching the rationales for conservation districts, he was game. Preservation topics are a special focus for Donofrio, who got some exposure to conservation districts during a stint in Philadelphia.
Donofrio and his research assistants pulled together case studies into a report, which, it turns out, is one of the few pieces of literature on the concept, which first arose in the 1970s. Like historic districts, conservation districts are a planning tool for
preserving certain aspects of a neighborhood, but they're often more
flexible, explains Donofrio.
Across the U.S., the language and implementation of ordinances in these areas are extremely nuanced, he says.
The findings were the subject of his mid-November talk, which the university's
Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) hosted.
While there's no hard and fast definition for conservation districts, he says, it's safe to say that many strive to maintain the overall character of a neighborhood as opposed to ruling on a building's paint colors or window types. By comparison, when it comes to historic districts, "local preservation commissions have a very strong authority and broad latitude to regulate appearance."
Many residents of South Minneapolis's Prospect Park have voiced a
desire to protect the area's old-fashioned buildings, but they found the
highly restrictive rules of a historic district to be too off-putting. Some conservation districts' rules are just as detailed as those for historic districts, but in most cases "they tend to be broad standards," he says.
In Chapel Hill, N.C., and Iowa City, Iowa, which have huge populations of students and many absentee landlords, people embarked on conservation districts because they wanted homeowners to look after their houses more, according to research assistant Jessie McClurg. In Dallas, Texas, many quaint old homes were being demolished, destroying the small town feel, she says.
One of the most interesting examples was in Cambridge, Mass., where "strong public participation is a component," Donofrio adds, explaining that community-driven boards provide leadership in a number of conservation districts.
The model struck a chord with some Prospect Park residents from the neighborhood group
Prospect Park East River Road Improvement Association, who "want to help shape the scope and format of the program," he says.
Source: Greg Donofrio, assistant professor and director of the Heritage Preservation and Conservation Program at the University of Minnesota's School of Architecture, Jessie McClurg, architecture graduate research assistant
Writer: Anna Pratt