By the Historic Designation Committee
Draft 1 of a potential Candler Park Historic District is out and Draft 2 is on its way (May 15). This proposal came about after months of listening to our neighbors, discussions of the committee and talking with the City.
Based on feedback, the committee’s goal was to create a historic district that prevented complete demolition of historic buildings, allowed for gentle density increase and did not significantly inhibit residents’ ability to expand their homes.
To that end, the proposal is for a simple overlay district, meaning the existing zoning regulations will remain in place as well. Anything not specifically mentioned in the Historic District Regulations would default to the underlying zoning regulations (R4 and R5 for example).
Key points of the proposed regulations:
Yard setbacks can conform to the existing house or match another house on the block rather than being a set # of feet.
Alterations/additions are allowed to both contributing (historic) and non-contributing (not historic) buildings.
Alterations/additions may be in any style or design except the street-facing elevations of contributing buildings in which case the existing design should be retained (but only on that elevation).
Solar panels will be allowed anywhere
The proposal does not regulate materials or window replacement.
Addressing Density:
The proposal enables gentle density increases through ADUs with some important changes:
By changing the height from 20 to 24 feet, removing restrictions based on the existing house size, and allowing up to 3 ADUs per lot, construction of ADUs will be more flexible.
ADU construction will still be governed by the overall lot coverage and floor area allowed by zoning.
Without replacing underlying zoning, we are not able to alter the number of primary dwellings on a lot, however, because the historic regulations and the zoning are separate, density can be increased in the future through the underlying zoning. Additionally, there are many properties in Candler Park that are divided into triplexes and small multifamily buildings. The good news is, these never have to go away, a property’s current use may continue, including the number of dwellings, under new owners and even if the building is changed.