
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 15, 1991                   TAG: 9104160460
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PETIE BRIGHAM
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HISTORIC ZONING HELPS ALL DISTRICT OWNERS

IN REPLY to John Cone's April 6 letter, "Trap being laid for architectural board": As an Old Southwest homeowner and active resident, I agree that "government should not be drawn into making minor design decisions." This is the very reason why clarification of the historic zoning code is a rather urgent issue, and why design guidelines must accompany the code.

Property owners need to be aware of what is in keeping with Old Southwest's heritage, so that they come before the Architectural Review Board with appropriate proposals to begin with. I have attended enough ARB meetings to know that its members have no desire to design people's buildings or additions or alterations for them.

It is only when owners, through lack of knowledge, present truly unacceptable designs that the ARB, in the spirit of being helpful and offering expertise (and, I might add, in trying to let the owner proceed with his work without delay), offers suggestions. Once the language of the code is clarified, and a design guidelines book is available to all owners and potential owners, this situation, as well as any arbitrary decisions, should be eliminated.

Had this been the case two months ago, Robert Szathmary would have had no argument before City Council to reverse the ARB's decision to deny the removal of a slate roof owned by William Hicks. Perhaps the worst part of all of this ARB controversy is that certain owners, while proclaiming an interest in the preservation of Old Southwest, just do not see how that applies to themselves.

There will always those who will view such entities as ARBs as an invasion of their rights; they fail to see that in the long run, historic-zoning overlays are in the best interest of all owners in a district. Having an ARB is not unique to Roanoke; there are 55 in the state of Virginia alone, and hundreds nationwide.

Historic preservation is not some quack movement thought up by a few selfish homeowners in Old Southwest. Those who wish to see the character of the neighborhood preserved through the enforcing, clarifying, or, if necessary, toughening of the code are far more self- less than those who wish to thwart or circumvent the code.

Contrary to Mr. Cone's statement, there is no other neighborhood in Roanoke like Old Southwest. A ride or walk through other older neighborhoods quickly reveals widespread inappropriate remodeling and in-fill construction. It is the intactness of Old Southwest that earned this turn-of-the-century neighborhood its place on the National Register of Historic Places, and that is what we must preserve through the historic code.

A photo of a streetscape in the 400 block of Walnut was the sole illustration in a recent nationwide mailing from the National Trust for Historic Preservatioon. Old Southwest is a tremendous asset to this city. I find it odd, and sad, as a native Roanoker who has lived many other places, that so many Roanokers refuse to see the worth of Old Southwest; "outsiders" have a much greater appreciation of this beautiful, eclectic neighborhood.

Petie Brigham, a Realtor and artist, is a board member of Old Southwest Inc.

by CNB