Why do I need to follow the historic design guidelines if my home is not contributing?

The proposed design guidelines cover both contributing and non-contributing homes, but they are not the same. The guidelines for non-contributing home renovation or new construction is less restrictive than those for contributing properties. The intent of the guidelines for non-contributing and new construction is to moderate the mass, scale, height, relationship to the street and rhythm of the street so as to not distract from the unique character of the contributing properties. The current zoning and new in-fill zoning do not address these issues. The intent is not to require new construction to mimic the protected housing style, in fact it is discouraged. It is the opinion of the resident committee that pusued the local historic district that homes built to a height of 2 1/2 stories on a street where the majority of the contributing houses are either 1 or 1 1/2 stories distracts from the historic character of the street. However, we recognize that some streets have larger mass and scale within the historic structures and therefore new construction of 2 1/2 stories may not cause such a distraction. Because citywide zoning can not address such detail and protect historic properties/character there is a ordinance allowing for local historic district to meet such demand. The limits to square footage, lot coverage, impervious surface, etc are still governed by the existing zoning laws.