Planner proposes 'Corner Stores' Local Landmark Thematic District to preserve early 20th-century neighborhood grocers

City planning staff and the historic preservation planner on June 15 presented a proposal to create a Corner Stores Local Landmark Thematic District that would treat multiple, noncontiguous neighborhood grocery stores as a single thematic historic district.

David Cary, director of planning and development services, described the zoning action and said the district allows for special permits to enable reuse and rehabilitation while preserving historic features. Jill Dolberg, the city's historic preservation planner, said the district differs from geographic historic districts because it groups properties by common theme (early 20th-century corner stores) rather than contiguous geography. She described outreach over two years to neighborhood groups, letters to property owners and a brown-bag presentation hosted by the Preservation Association of Lincoln. "This is our first thematic district we're presenting to you," Dolberg said. She said the properties date roughly from 1900 to 1940 and that four are already locally landmarked.

There was no public testimony at the meeting and no final council vote recorded on the item during this session; staff said the district is intended to provide protections and make special-permit rehabilitation and adaptive reuse more feasible.