Razing concerns

In late October, the demolition of a home built in the 1920s became a rallying cry for some Homewood residents.

The home, located off of Highland Road, was sold to and torn down by developers to make room for multiple homes in the same space. While the new development met zoning codes and city regulations, Edgewood resident Melanie Geer said the decision made her question the city’s protections of Homewood’s history.

“There’s so much going on, and it just became so apparent to me that as a city, we don’t value preserving either our historic homes or our historic land,” said Geer, referring to the development of multiple buildings where one previously stood as well as the sale of previously undeveloped land in Homewood. 

As Geer looked into options to preserve historic homes and properties, however, she was disappointed to see a lack of historical protections against demolition or development. No portion of Homewood is protected by a historic designation, and homes that have a historical marker from Jefferson County — such as the one torn down on Highland — don’t have additional protections.

Shelley Stevens, the previous owner of the home on Highland, knew the historical marker did not legally protect her home. But on an emotional level, she hoped it would.

“I was hoping it’d be a point of pride for any future homeowner, that they were getting a historic home,” said Stevens, who lived there from 1999 to 2009. 

When she and her husband sold the house, she left behind copies of its history — that it was built in the 1920s, the details of its construction and information on past homeowners.

“I just like knowing the history of a thing. I like to know how it got to me,” she said, although she knew not everyone would be as sentimental about it. 

The people who purchased the home from Stevens sold it in 2015, and the next owners sold it for $1.1 million on Oct. 5, 2017, according to records on Zillow, a real estate website. Stevens bought the home for $150,000, and said she was not surprised that the sale price meant the property went to a developer without emotional attachments to the home.

“The average home buyer — who would have loved that home, who might have chosen to add on [instead of tear down] — they are priced out of the market,” she said. “No one can compete for a $1.1 million offer.”

As Stevens and Geer, as well as other Homewood residents, looked at their city, they said they did not know what could be done to protect these properties. 

To Stevens, it is important to look at zoning laws and consider how the charm of homes is a part of Homewood’s soul — something that leads people to move there and stay there, even if it isn’t quantified in city zoning codes. 

To Geer, the next step is having a city group to fight for historical properties. Last fall, she said she wasn’t sure what that would look like, but in early January Geer was hopeful about the reenergized Homewood Historical Preservation Commission.

“The bottom line is there is an official city committee that is looking at various ways to provide support for historic preservation in Homewood,” said Geer, who attended the commission’s November meeting.

The commission has existed for several years, but it had a sort of resurgence in June 2017, said Callen Childs, an architect and the Ward 1 commission representative. The commission wrote bylaws and began taking steps to become more active this past summer. In November, they wrote down goals for 2018, which Childs said will become “building blocks” for projects further down the road.

“There’s a whole list of things we want to do, but you need to start with initial, attainable goals,” said Childs, who previously served on a historic preservation commission in a small town in Colorado.

A major goal for the preservation commission, she said, is for Homewood to become a Certified Local Government. This designation, bestowed by the National Park Service, opens the door for matching grant funds for historic preservation projects, according to the Alabama Historical Commission. Childs said property owners can apply for historic tax credits once the CLG is granted, and the city would have access to potential grants for local preservation.

“We haven’t identified these projects yet, but just having the access to funding is important,” Childs said.

Step one toward that certification is a survey of “contributing structures” in the city. 

The commission is already in conversations about starting that survey in the downtown area, where contributing structures will be identified and a historic district can potentially be established. They also plan to talk with the Regional Planning Commission during the Heart of Homewood project.

“Enabling Homewood to be a Certified Local Government would help us establish more historic districts, if the city were to decide that was something it wanted to do,” Childs said. 

Districts could be residential or commercial, and tax credits and grant funding can act as financial incentives to complete renovations, rather than tear down structures, Childs said. Having information on historic properties could also incentivize preservation.

There is a term in architecture — wabi sabi — that means “to find the perfection in imperfection.” In old structures, Childs said, it’s something to keep in mind. 

“It’s ‘find the beauty in the fact that not every single thing is exactly perfect,’ and I think that’s what people are learning to love in downtowns,” she said, something that can be seen in Birmingham projects such as the Pizitz and in downtown Homewood.

Background knowledge on the use of specific materials or the placement of a window can take peculiar construction from strange or inconvenient to historically important in someone’s mind. In Colorado, Childs said, demolition permits in the “Old Town overlay district” were reviewed by the preservation commission and contributing characteristics were presented to the owner.

“They would present these findings to the owner as a way to educate them on any historical attributes of their property,” Childs said. “Often times this resulted in preservation of some elements of the structure and assistance in how to incorporate them into renovations and additions.”

While the preservation commission is not and will not be a design review board, Childs said, she sees a review of demolition requests as a logical responsibility. These reviews could not stop demolition, she said. Rather, the review is a time for the commission to provide historical information to a property owner so they can make informed decisions. 

“If that’s the first area we’re focusing on to look at the potential of creating historic districts and boundaries, within that district, I think it would be a very logical and beneficial [step] to review demolition requests,” she said.

People might hear that information and do nothing with it, she said, or they might take it into account.

“A lot of it’s going to depend on who the owner is and who the developer is, but I do think there’s a strong mindset for preserving,” Childs said. “And it’s not just preserving to be historic. I think people understand the value of history, and to be honest there’s often a ‘cool’ factor in old materials that you can’t recreate with new materials.”

In 2018, the commission aims to create a logo and brand to become an identifiable entity, in addition to connecting with the community. They are in the process of getting information about the commission onto the city’s website so that residents can know how to attend meetings and, one day, access historical databases.

“I would say, definitely, if someone has a concern or they want to learn more about preservation or if they want to understand if a property is historic, we’re definitely the ones to come to,” Childs said.

While recent development in Homewood has been disappointing to Geer, she said she hopes the commission will provide a way to voice citizen concerns on preservation and historical significance within the city. Sometimes it takes a formal entity, she said, and this could put preservation as a priority.

“To me, I think being involved with that group and seeing the things they’re trying to do, that’s kind of a more formal approach that I think is needed for preservation, for preservation efforts,” she said. “I feel like that committee might be the place to provide some synergy. So to me, I don’t want to fight anybody. I think we need to work together on some good ideas to move preservation forward.”