You're History!

The Watertown Town Council and Historical Commision are currently reviewing a plan to allow the town to designate landmarks and neighborhood conservation districts.

In the proposal's current outline, 10 residents could request the Historical Commission to designate a building or neighborhood as a landmark or neighborhood conservation district. A neighborhood could be as small as two houses or as large as a street. The Town Council would have the final vote on whether to create the district or landmark.

Should the council approve the designation, additional restrictions would be placed on the owners' ability do demolish or add external additions to their property. Personally, I think that this sounds like a great way for residents to take the initiative to prevent neighborhoods from radically changing around them as older one-family houses get torn down and replaced with townhouses or condos.

I was actually at a meeting of the Historical Commission when they issued their first moratorium. It seemed to me that veryone was struck with the futility of the measure. People asked what happened after the one year had passed, and the answer was nothing. After the year was up development could begin without a second hearing. Indeed, even if the building was designated a national historical building, we were told, all that would mean was that after the year, no federal funds could be spent to destroy the house. If this ordinance can help residents have more control over their neighborhoods, it will probably be a positive thing for Watertown.

Oh, and in case you were curious, there's nothing historical about my house. Unless, of course, you count the fact that it was built back before the minimum lot size was raised to 6,000 square feet. That's about 1.72 times the size of my property, for those keeping score.