In a guest commentary published Sept. 20 about the moratorium on downtown development, Orlando City Commissioner Shan Rose wrote that “growth alone does not create identity” and she is 100% correct. She continues that “other major cities are immediately identified by their architecture, historic character and streetscapes” and that “Orlando has pieces of that opportunity.”
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Yet she feels the moratorium deserves thoughtful understanding.
Guest Commentary: Historic moratorium lets downtown Orlando define its identity
Ironically, it is Rose who needs to better understand the potential of the moratorium. Without review by the historic preservation board and without demolition protections provided by the historic district designation, every historic building and landmark in the district can be modified beyond its historic character to any extent up to demolition. Historic buildings, craftsmanship and character in the downtown historic district, as she puts it, “cannot be easily recreated.”
The current preservation ordinance, which is based on U.S. Secretary of the Interior standards, allows for guided modifications as well as use. Commissioner Patty Sheehan’s presentation at City Council in June clearly identified this with examples of adaptive reuse and additions to historic buildings. Historic preservation provides a baseline, not a “time capsule.”
Rose may have been sold the line that the moratorium provides a three-year window to better understand downtown’s history and character. Since her tenure began, have she or any of the other commissioners or the mayor consulted the city’s historic preservation officer to better understand downtown’s history? I challenge every constituent to contact their commissioner and the mayor and ask them that question. I believe the answer is no, just based on their comments.
After Sheehan’s City Council presentation in June, rebutting claims that preservation is “stifling growth downtown,” Rose’s response seemed to reveal she did not take any of the facts that Sheehan provided into consideration in her vote.
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As I see it, Mayor Buddy Dyer, the Downtown Development Board and large property owners obviously worked behind the scenes before announcing the moratorium proposal, which was a surprise to some commissioners, the preservation office and preservation board, not to mention the public. They failed the citizens of Orlando by keeping them out of the process. Instead of moving quickly to propose a three-year moratorium that halts all preservation guidelines, they should have held meetings that included all stakeholders, including the preservation staff, to see what provisions in the ordinance could be modified to expedite the review process. This has been done in the past to blend zoning and preservation.
Rose’s district has received the lion’s share of $7 million in the past 10 years of various historic grants. Owners of historic property throughout the other five historic districts have also economically benefited from grants, tax deferrals and federal income credit as an incentive for being in a historic district. This in part is due to the City of Orlando’s status as a certified local
government. However, the State has put the City on notice that the removal of the preservation review in the Downtown Historic District is in violation of the agreement and has given the City 180
days to rescind the moratorium or their status of a certified local government will be revoked. This would affect property owners in all historic districts, which would lose the opportunity to collect grants administered by the state on behalf of national and state agencies.
Rose has some of the largest undeveloped property in her district, surface lots lining Interstate 4, which is seen by hundreds of thousands of motorists as they pass by downtown, but she is focused on the historic built blocks as potential for development. You have to ask yourself, what is the motivation?
Rose should know that the City Council has always held the authority to override any of the city’s advisory boards, including the historic preservation board, which they have done in the past by
the demolition of the historic McCrory/Woolworth Building to develop the current Plaza Building on Orange Avenue.
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You don’t build a city’s identity by bulldozing its history.
Raymond Cox is the president of the Orange Preservation Trust.