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Resident urges Littleton to prioritize historic preservation plan, warns mid-century assets at risk
Summary
A nearby resident and frequent public commenter told the Historic Preservation Commission that the city has delayed a promised historic preservation plan and that Littleton’s mid-century modern commercial and residential assets are at risk without integration into planning work.
Pam Chadbourne, a Littleton resident who said she lives about a block and a half from city hall, used the public-comment period at the Historic Preservation Commission meeting to urge the city to place historic preservation higher in planning priorities and to complete a promised historic preservation plan.
Chadbourne said she attended the public meetings when the city’s comprehensive plan was adopted and that the comprehensive-plan commitment was to add a historic preservation plan within a year. “You know what? It’s five years later and counting, and it has not been added,” she told the commission. She warned the commission that mid-century modern assets — both commercial properties along Littleton Boulevard and adjacent residential neighborhoods — are being lost and that those middle-class assets are especially vulnerable.
Chadbourne said she has attended City Council retreats where, she said, the city manager deprioritized historic preservation items. She criticized what she described as a lack of public inclusion in the Littleton Boulevard sub-area planning process and said the city’s management is “broken” when it comes to integrating historic preservation into broader planning.
Her comments were made during the general public-comment period (not during a public hearing) and drew no immediate commission action; commissioners noted they could raise the issue with staff or place it on a future agenda or joint study session with City Council. Staff later referenced a joint City Council–HPC study session scheduled for Feb. 25 to discuss priorities, and staff said the preservation program and a contracted survey effort would be part of upcoming work-program items.
