Every major suburban area has its local concerns and growing pains, and the Old Northeast neighborhood in Saint Petersburg, FL is no exception. For years there has been ongoing debates about the limits, voting rights, and rules about the historic designation for small, older neighborhoods like the Old Northeast. In 2015 the St. Pete council agreed to modify preservation rules reducing the votes from a 2/3 majority, down to 50% plus 1 before they may apply to the city for historic designation. We recently found that this discussion is even more far reaching, to Miami in fact!
News broke in the Miami Herald that a man bought two adjoining “shotgun” homes in the Coconut Grove area to build a single, new house for his family, but the local preservation board might not let that idea come to fruition. In a similar case to what kinds of review and approval are now required for historic districts like the Historic Old Northeast in St. Pete, the board is not allowing the dilapidated homes to be demolished as they believe they can be restored to their former glory.
In March of this year, a Miami inspector issued Andrew Rasken, the new owner, unsafe-building notices for the properties. But just as that notice was being reviewed, the head of the building department’s unsafe-structures unit, Rene Diaz, halted the process stating that some of the damage looks to have been unnatural. If proven true it would likely help the case for the owner needing to fully repair the buildings to their original condition, canceling his planned home for his family. For the full story please check here to review the Herald’s official article.
Whether you’re for or against the preservation rules as we’ve seen in the Old Northeast and Miami, it’s becoming a heated discussion in major metro areas statewide. Builders and architects will have to plan around these restrictive neighborhoods, but the tight-knit communities will have more of a say in the future of their neighborhoods. For details on the St. Pete preservation designations and the affected neighborhoods, call Frank Malowany at 727-432-1176 or Contact Us via our website form.
Image courtesy of City of St Pete via Flickr.
