On Thu, 29 Jan 1998, J. Bryan Blundell wrote:

> Preservation law is a powerful tool in this regard. Codes are powerful
> tools. Since I am working to make the PTN and IPTW items of influence,
> is there a presentation possibility for the next IPTW? How about a
> presentation on preservation law that is useful to the trades and
> contractors in historic preservation. The law is used everyday to
> influence the market place and assist in guiding the society in general
> to certain goals. Do you have any info for us poor slobs in the ditches.
> Maybe a code based primer on the strategies for saving and using archaic
> materials.

I'd be happy to help, but the codes are not my specialty; you could
probably find someone far more knowledgeable than I.

In my world, too, the building code is typically an adversary; so many
times, I've heard applicants with rehab projects come before the historic
district commission saying "yeah, we'd much rather keep that feature, but
the code calls for..."

Here in Ann Arbor, we do have some flexibility from the strict application
of building codes to historic properties, and in extreme cases, the HDC
supports the applicant in going to the applicable board of appeals to get
a variance.  It helps, perhaps, that the historic preservation coordinator
is now part of the building department and can work closely with the code
enforcement and building permit people.

Unhappily, up in East Lansing, where I used to live and was deeply
involved in setting up the historic districts, the new city council is on
a rampage to harass landlords and drive student rental properties out of
town -- a hopeless endeavor considering that 10,000 MSU students live in
the neighborhoods around the campus, as they have for decades, and there's
noplace else handy for them to live.  Most of the historic districts are
predominantly rental housing areas.

The latest gambit, currently under consideration, is that relicensing of
any rental property require adherence to all the codes for new
construction, including ceiling heights, hallway widths, etc., etc.  Since
landlords in East Lansing never get an inch of variance for anything,
enforcement would be ultra-strict.  For whole neighborhoods full of old
houses, that means they will have to be gutted to the studs, all the
historic interior fabric probably discarded and replaced with quarter inch
sheetrock and the lowest legal grade of flush door.  Of course outside the
historic districts they will probably just be demolished and replaced with
vinyl sided boxes or "manufactured housing".

                               Larry Kestenbaum