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Commission debates lowering age threshold for local historic eligibility; staff outlines four options
Summary
Commissioners discussed Wildwood’s current 75‑year age threshold for listing on the local Historic Register and alternatives, including aligning survey work with the federal 50‑year threshold. Staff outlined four options and asked for guidance; no change was adopted.
The Historic Preservation Commission revisited a long‑standing question about the city’s age threshold for historic designation and inventory. Since 1999 Wildwood’s ordinance has set 75 years as the eligibility threshold for the Wildwood Historic Register; staff presented that standard alongside St. Louis County (no fixed age) and the National Register of Historic Places (50 years with exceptions).
Planning staff noted a recurring difficulty: national and state programs often use 50 years, so unique local decisions sometimes conflict with federal listings and Section 106 review triggered at 50 years for federally involved projects. The department also said that lowering the survey threshold to 50 years would substantially increase survey workload: the commission’s recent 75‑year update added 48 properties and the current inventory totals roughly 450–460 properties.
Staff presented four options for the commission to consider:
- Option A: Keep 75 years for survey and review, but remove the 75‑year criterion as a strict limit for nomination to the Wildwood Historic Register (allow nominations of younger properties). - Option B: Keep 75 years for survey/review but add narrowly defined exceptions for properties deemed exceptionally significant irrespective of age. - Option C: Change survey work and review to a 50‑year threshold consistent with federal practice, but only review demolition/major alterations for properties that also meet additional defined significance criteria. - Option D: Survey to 50 years but remove age as a barrier to nomination to the local register (i.e., allow nominations of any age subject to significance criteria).
Commissioners voiced concerns about workload and homeowner impacts if a 50‑year threshold produced hundreds of additional properties requiring review for routine changes. Several commissioners suggested retaining a clear age threshold combined with stronger criteria about significance; others favored narrower exceptions so the commission could consider notably important recent properties (for example, significant buildings in Wildwood Town Center) without triggering wholesale survey obligations.
No action was taken; staff said the conversation will continue and that recommendations could be folded into the ongoing Historic Preservation Plan process. Commissioners asked staff to quantify the number of properties affected by a 50‑year threshold and to draft clear significance criteria to reduce administrative burden if the threshold is lowered.
