Council member Cathcart introduced a resolution (2025-0097) at the Oct. 27 agenda review to place a procedural pause on how the city advances new historic-district proposals and to require those proposals be added to the Plan Commission work plan so the council can engage earlier in the process.

“As the language reads, the purpose is to put a pause while we maybe reconsider how it is that we approach historic districts,” Cathcart said. She and staff emphasized that the intent is not to eliminate historic districts but to “rethink how we do it” and how districts are scheduled for Plan Commission and council consideration. Spencer, a planning staff member, said the change would allow council involvement earlier rather than hearing proposals only at the end of the review process.

Council members raised questions about whether the proposed change would affect a district currently under consideration — the Garland Historic District. Cathcart and other members suggested the document could explicitly exempt Garland or that the council could add Garland to the Plan Commission work plan to avoid delaying that pending application.

Staff noted the city’s interlocal agreement (ILA) with the county predated some local historic-district processes and that normal listing on the register would not be precluded by the proposed procedural change. No final action was taken that night; an amendment to the resolution was described as forthcoming to clarify scope and any specific exemptions.

The briefing focused on process and sequencing; no code amendment or removal of historic protections was proposed during the agenda-review discussion.