Council member urges local protections for Dixie Street as multiple large student-housing proposals emerge

Council member Theresa Turk on May 8 urged the Historic District Commission to evaluate options to protect the Dixie Street area of the Dixon Street National Register historic district after a wave of proposed student housing projects and other developments.

"We are way behind. I think that's why developers are coming here," Turk told the commission, summarizing concerns about scale, parking and viewshed impacts on the historic corridor.

Turk presented maps and National Register documentation showing that the Dixie Street district contains roughly 56 resources (35 contributing and 20 non‑contributing) evaluated for the period 1892–1957. She identified three recent proposals that she said threaten the district’s character: a redevelopment at the UARK (York) Theater (listed as a contributing resource), a seven‑story campus bookstore proposal inside the district and a proposed seven‑story private student housing project on Block Street that is the subject of litigation.

Staff said the city recently added a private‑dormitory use unit to the zoning code and…