So, that attractive old house next door—the one that’s been part of the fabric of your neighborhood for as long as you can remember—has a “For Sale” sign on the lawn. Uh-oh! What if it’s sold to one of the developers hell-bent on promptly demolishing whatever stands in the way of profiting from construction of an out-of-scale million-dollar new home, perhaps squeezing two of those behemoths onto the lot, resulting in blocking sunlight to your garden, infringing on your privacy, felling trees, releasing who knows what into the air during demolition, and sticking out like a sore thumb on the block?! Well, the message from BWNA and its preservationist grass-roots affiliate, United Neighborhoods for Reform (UNR), is to stay civil, become informed, and proceed systematically as an advocate and activist.
Step 1: Access the UNR blog for guidance (http://unitedneighborhoodsforeform.blogspot.com). Then poll neighbors on your block regarding their interest in preserving the home. Arrange a meeting with the owner, emphasizing the importance of the house being sold to a buyer who will live in it, not destroy it.
Step 2: Should the owner not be receptive to your arguments, meet again with your group of neighbors and encourage them to purchase “Stop the Demo!” signs to put up in their yards ($5 each) via the UNR blog or by directly contacting B-W resident and UNR Steering Committee member Janet Baker (janbak@pacifier.com).
Step 3: If, despite all efforts, the house ends up being sold to a developer, invite the developer to meet with your group of neighbors for a discussion. If the developer doesn’t respond or outright refuses to meet, then take your story to the media. Next, contact BWNA Land Use Chair and UNR Steering Committee member Jack Bookwalter (jackbookwalter@yahoo.com) with a request for BWNA to intercede.
Step 4: Regardless of the developer’s willingness or unwillingness to meet, the Bureau of Development Services (BDS) is now required by ordinance (adopted last year with input from UNR) to mail notification of demolition permit applications both to neighbors in the near vicinity of proposed demolition sites, and to neighborhood associations within five days after application submission. The ordinance also requires an automatic 35-day delay in the granting of a demolition permit in order to give neighbors and their neighborhood association time to explore alternatives to demolition—namely, moving the home intact to a new location, finding a buyer or buyers willing to purchase the home from the developer, or persuading the developer to remodel instead of demolish. If one of these options is doable for your group of neighbors, then BWNA has grounds for an appeal to BDS (with the $1,300-plus fee waived by the City!) to extend the demolition delay an additional 60 days for the purpose of pursuing the demolition-alternative plan.
Against-the-odds, you say? For sure. Impossible to pull off? Not at all. It’s been done in other neighborhoods, albeit infrequently. The key is to engage parties early on, go public with your campaign if necessary, and stay the course…step by step.