City Council Agenda and Packet 2015 05 26

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SUBJECT: HISTORIC PRESERVATION MASTER PLAN DATE: MAY 26, 2015 PAGE4OF7 preservation. Historic preservation relies on significance (the importance of historic buildings) and integrity (the physical intactness of these resources) to determine what to preserve. The "when" of preservation is the period of significance. History is about the reasoned assessment of past events and we must allow sufficient time to pass so we can understand the causes, effects, and influences of events in the past. The standard time to wait in historic preservation, based upon guidance from the National Park Service, is fifty years. Louisville's preservation program currently follows this rolling 50- year standard when considering eligibility of landmarks and completing design review. The Community Workshop participants received four scenarios related to preservation challenges and a chart of preservation strategies to address the challenges (attachment #8 and 9). One of the current preservation challenges is determining how to treat the two 1960s era neighborhoods, Bella Vista and Scenic Heights, just outside of the existing Old Town Overlay incentive area (attachment #10). The participants were interested in exploring creative ways of documenting structures and facilitating historic preservation through voluntary plan books, design guidelines, and changes to existing regulations. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: The following Draft Goals and Objectives for the Preservation Master Plan were developed by the Historic Preservation Commission subcommittee, staff, and HistoryMatters, LLC based on input from the public. The comments, including additional objective suggestions, from the Community Workshop appear in attachment #6. Since the Community Workshop, some of the objectives have been moved to potential action items for the next phase of the plan. All phases of the plan development process have led to the conclusion it is important to: • Follow preservation best practice and retain a rolling period of significance in order not to preclude future conversations about what is important in Louisville (the current time period -50 years —may be refined in recommended action items), • Respect and enhance the voluntary nature of the Louisville's preservation program by streamlining processes and increasing outreach, and • Recognize the existing preservation program can and should be improved to become more user - friendly. Some of these concepts are stated in the Goals and Objectives below while others are merely suggested and will appear more succinctly in the action items developed to achieve the plan goals and objectives. CITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATION 6