Anticipated Future Conditions
Projections
As each year passes, more buildings, districts, and sites become potential historic resources, whether or not they are included in official inventories or ever designated. This is due to more properties becoming 50 years old or older and a better understanding of how the properties are significant in the City’s history. In addition, new research is being conducted which provides more information about both “newly”, as well as previously identified, historic resources. Both time and knowledge increase the City’s number of potential historic resources. As such, the techniques and tools used to inventory, recognize and protect potential historic resources will incorporate this increase.
As more development occurs in the City, construction involving historic resources will increase. Some owners seeking to adapt older buildings to today’s lifestyles, including all types of housing options (single-family, apartments, lofts, etc.) will integrate historic resources into their project. Others will demolish these buildings for infill new construction or the creation of larger lots. Demolition activity involving historic houses in residential districts will continue. This is the result of historic residences that have fallen below housing code and must be demolished as a threat to public health and safety or are considered obsolete due to their size or interior arrangement. Communities will continue to require that new construction on vacant lots be compatible with the existing conditions of intown neighborhoods, rather than suburban types of development.
Usage and demands on the City’s historic parks will increase. The number of parks recognized for their history or historic features will likely increase as their significance and history is better understood and documented.
Assessment
The need to document the future collection of historic resources in the City will increase regardless of how many potential historic resources presently exist. The current tools and techniques used to inventory, recognize, and protect potential historic resources are adequate. However, it will be critical to update, add to, and then maintain those tools and techniques so that they are as comprehensive as possible.
The historic character of many historic properties will be diminished. This will be the result of deferred maintenance and non-compliance with housing codes, and the construction of overly large additions or new houses which are not in keeping with the size and scale of the original houses in the neighborhood.
The additional demands on historic parks could potentially cause long-term damage to potential historic and archeological resources in the parks. The increased demand could also lead to physical improvements and additional facilities in the parks that while necessary could potentially diminish their historic characteristics.
Given the future conditions noted above, it is difficult to forecast the net effect on the City’s historic resources even with a generally expanding inventory. Interest in downtown office space or intown single-family housing could both jeopardize and facilitate the presence of historic resources. If demolition were the main tool of redevelopment, the renewed interest would likely reduce the number of historic resources. If rehabilitation, adaptive reuse, and compatible new construction on vacant property are the norm in this renewal, historic resources would likely benefit.