Special Preservation Planning Meeting for Berwyn!

[Aimee]

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[Vic0218]

Aimee -

I'm a resident in the Depot District area. You note that the public is strongly encouraged to attend.

Is the topic matter focused on retail/historical buildings or residential/historical buildings, and how will the public's presence influence the meetings. I'm trying to determine if I should attend or not, but am honestly unsure of what is being discussed in this meeting....can you add a few details about the topics of the meeting or list where I can find out more info on the meeting?

Thanks - Vic

[pkd50]

 How did all of this get started at the meeting?   Did anybody try to put a stop to this discussion?

[shrugger]

I thought that it was a good meeting, the people that came to speak knew their stuff and offered themselves as future resources on the subject, which is key. Didn't stick around after the meeting ended, though.

A few key items for those who couldn't make it:

-In order to create historic buildings and/or districts (and thus place restrictions on them), our City Council would need to establish a Historic Preservation Commission via a city ordinance and empower them. The details of this would need to be written into the ordinance.

-Creating a commission and designating buildings or districts in Berwyn would qualify the city to become a "Certified Local Government" and thus eligible for historic preservation grants (federal funds distributed through the state HP agency).

-In the last year or so, a group including Ald. Lovero and Lori Thielen (sp?) drafted an ordinance for establishing an HP Commission. This has not been introduced to Council, but the draft is now in the hands of the Mayor who said that he plans to address this in the near future.

-A professor from the School of the Art Institute who teaches in their Historic Preservation program talked about how, in 1999, one of his classes did a survey of Berwyn and identified potential historical structures and districts. This got people pretty excited because it was the portion of the meeting that focused on Berwyn's assets ... starring the sturdy concentration of Bungalows but also including a number of other significant houses and other buildings. There was a copy of their plan available to take away...