HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-16-18 Public Comment - B. Sulam - NCOD ReviewFrom:Phillipe Gonzalez
To:Agenda
Subject:NCOD Review Public Comment
Date:Monday, July 16, 2018 8:31:36 AM
Phillipe Gonzalez | Historic Preservation Specialist
City of Bozeman | 20 East Olive St. | P.O. Box 1230 | Bozeman, MT 59771
P: 406.582.2940 | E: pgonzalez@bozeman.net | W: www.bozeman.net
From: Barry Sulam <barry.sulam@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2018 10:47 AM
To: Phillipe Gonzalez <PGonzalez@BOZEMAN.NET>
Cc: Jeff Copeland <jouzelcopeland@gmail.com>; Baumler, Mark <mbaumler@mt.gov>; Chere Jiusto
<chere@preservemontana.org>
Subject: windshield survey volunteer
To: Phillipe Gonazalez, Bozeman HP officer
Windshield Survey: I can help out on july 19 in the afternoon. Tell me where and what timeafter 1 pm that works for you.
Barry Sulam
Regarding Public Comment on NCOD Study: I have a quote I would like delivered to consultants working on NCOD, if you would forward
this:
From Jim Jenks, A Guide to Historic Bozeman, Montana MainStreets book, pages 140-141,ISBN 978-0-9721522-3-5
2paragraph, pg 140, " Today, much of Bozeman is located within the city's Neighborhood
Conservation overlay district, formed in 1990. One of the largest in the country, the overlaydistrict serves to protect places located outside of Bozeman's historic core and to preserve for
the future the possibility of creating new historic districts. Outside the overlay district, workremains to be done."
Last para. pg 141; "All in all, Bozeman is home to one of the most progressive municipal
historic preservation programs in the nation. Two essential ideas lie behind Bozeman's historicpreservation program: to educate the public about the breadth of history represented in the
community's heritage sites and to preserve their special places for the use and enjoyment offuture generations."
PRESERVE, PROTECT FOR THE USE AND ENJOYMENT OF FUTURE
GENERATIONS sounds a lot like the Organic Act that created the National Park Service in1916. In its simplicity there is a double bind--- a contradictory mandate---because USE and
ENJOYMENT can mean consumptive activities that preclude the first priority: PRESERVE
and the second PROTECT. This has been challenged in court and Congress and the precedentis now established. There are three priorities in the statement: first Preserve, then Protect and
thirdly use and enjoy, without abrogating the first two mandates.
That is the clear and easily defended position for a municipal government that is supported byCertified Local Government funding for its preservation program. It can be defended as the
strings that tie the city governing bodies to the Federal priorities. If there was a better mandateit would come from the local voters. That is to ask them if they want to follow the Federal
guideline and priorities and keep accepting the CLG funding or go their own way and havereject further funding from CLG because of the local mandates that would abrogate the prime
directives of the Federal Organic Act as later regulated by more explicit National HistoricPreservation Acts (NHPA) in 1966, 1976, 1986 etc.
As you know the listings on the National Register are subject to review by local and state
officials every decade to see if they are still in the condition that qualified them for listing inthe first place. Furthermore the decade review ought to allow for additions and sadly
subtractions if a property is lost. In the case of the NCOD it seems fair that every decade areview is done to updates its boundaries and to complete as many NR nominations that are
warranted.
In the light of the push now to nominate Mid Century Architecture the decade review seemslike a good way to chip away at that mission for our generation so that we don't inadvertently
lose those examples of post WW II historic properties before they are even evaluated fornomination. A case in point is the Armory in the downtown area being gutted and reused for a
hotel platform spaces. Without an early recognition by the State of the value of that FredWillson creation in preparation for the WW II build up there would have a parking lot there
for the past twenty years after the National Guard moved out.
I am an advocate for a dynamic approach to Preservation in Bozeman as we inherit the legacyof John Dehaas, Jim McDonald and others who worked for the nomination of the original
historic districts. With a comprehensive decade review strategy there will be no spot zoningor push for demolition to satisfy short term ambitions. If there are valid property owner
demands for changing the existing NCOD or NR districts they can become part of the nextdecades review and in a predictable timely manner they will get their due process under the
law. Emergency actions in the face of disasters, like the explosion site on Main Street can behandled by public hearings and Appeal processes due to the exigencies of the situation.
I offer these comments as a working dynamic for changes to the city statutes and to me it
seems defensible as policy revisions to the NCOD and planning/ Zoning regulations goingforward.
If you or consultants have any questions I will be available during the windshield survey to
answer them or advise further.
Barry SulamRegistered Architect,
Retired Senior Regional Historical Architect, National Park Service, Intermountain Region
Fomerly with the Historic Preservation Board of Gallatin CountyCurrently in the American Studies PhD program at MSU