Trustees adopt updated historic-preservation design guidelines, expand courtesy review to Old Town Residential

The Carbondale Board of Trustees on March 10 voted unanimously to adopt revised historic-preservation design guidelines and to direct staff to prepare an ordinance expanding the town's historic-downtown-area boundary to include the Old Town Residential (OTR) district and designated "structures of merit."

Susanna Reid, an architect who led the update for the Historic Preservation Commission, said the rewrite adds an OTR chapter, expands guidance for a wider variety of building types, and emphasizes site design, massing and pedestrian experience rather than prescriptive stylistic rules. "The outcome basically was to target guidelines that would address massing, site plan issues, and to maintain and improve the pedestrian experience in the zone," Reid said.

Under the adopted approach, review by the Historic Preservation Commission will be nonbinding and advisory for most properties: owners in the OTR and HCC (historic commercial core) districts will receive courtesy comments from the HPC that applicants may incorporate but are not strictly required to follow. Trustees discussed whether to expand coverage beyond the zone boundaries to other locally identified structures of merit; the motion directed staff to include OTR and structures of merit in a draft ordinance for formal adoption.

Trustee speaker 9 moved for adoption and the motion passed unanimously. Staff said the program is intended to be incentivizing rather than punitive; Reid noted a local designation can, for example, make properties eligible for state historic grants.

The measures take effect when the implementing ordinance is prepared and adopted; staff will return with a draft ordinance reflecting the board's direction.