Are historic districts about to become history?
When it comes to the touchy subject of historic districts in Greensboro, watch out what you say.
An innocent remark can be twisted into a rumor.
Recently, a consultant the city hired from planning firm of Mary Means & Associates of Washington, appeared before a group that included people from the city's three historic districts: Aycock, Fisher Park and College Hill.
Ann Stringfield, a former president of the Fisher Park Neighborhood Association and strong advocate of historic districts, remembers the consultant saying words to this effect:
"If historic districts are so good, why aren't they growing" in Greensboro? The city hasn't created a new district since 1984.
Districts have been proposed for the College Park, Westerwood and Dudley neighborhoods, but each time residents rose up in protest. They said they didn't want the city telling them what they could or couldn't do with the outside of their homes.
The consultant's remark got people to thinking that perhaps Means & Associates was here to determine whether the city should continue with historic districts or abandon them.
Stringfield, for one, left the meeting worried, although she had a feeling the consultant didn't intend her remark to mean historic districts were endangered. The consultant was trying to get at what troubled people about districts.
But Stringfield says the comment might be genesis of the rumor now making the rounds of Aycock, Fisher Park and College Hill that districts might be eliminated.
Mike Cowhig, in charge of historic districts for the city's Department of Housing and Community Development, says there's no truth to the rumor.
He says Means & Associates are conducting surveys to determine ways procedures in the districts can be improved in districts to lessen complaints.
"The whole idea is to improve the process," he says.
Besides, Cowhig says, Means & Associations is pro-preservation. The company's web site says Jackie Barton, one of the consultants involved in the Greensboro assignment, has "a passion for heritage development."
Cowhig says firm founder Mary Means was instrumental in starting the Main Street Program that has helped revitalized main streets of towns and cities throughout the nation.
The firm's Web site lists clients that include historic Bates College in Maine, Historic St. Mary's City on Maryland's Eastern Shore, American Farmland Trust and Blackstone River National Heritage Corridor Commission.
The rumor also could be fueled by the housing and community development's department decision to consider creating a new form of zoning - a conservation district - for the Cedar Street neighborhood.
The Cedar Street area, lined with old houses including one dating to before the Civil War, is eligible for historic district consideration.
But a conservation district - other cities, including Raleigh, have adopted the concept - would have less stringent requirements than a historic district. The department's decision whether to ask the city council to create the conservation district zoning classification is expected soon.
Cowhig says Means & Associaties is still surveying and is expected to make a preliminary report soon.
Ann Stringfield still feels insecure about the future of districts, and not because of anything Means & Associates is doing.
"I don't think the city's leadership likes historic districts," she says, adding, however, that she has no evidence that the city council wants to abolish them.
Asked if she thought that was a possibity, Stringfield, a veteran of many City Hall battles over preservation and neighborhoods, replied, "I would not be surprised at anything that happens anymore."
