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"There are certainly community members that really want to see the area thrive and really put a lot of time and effort into keeping the area viable, but with the work of a few people it’s hard to overcome the larger issues of the area…"
-Jennifer Burden, Principal investigator of historical preservation at Gray & Pape. |
Q: How do you keep the community [South Fairmount} involved?
“...before we even started our survey work, MSD held a number of community design workshops and community meetings and there was a survey of ‘what do you think is significant?’ Because we can do all the research in the world but won’t know some of the particular stories of some of these places and so we did use their feedback to determine what is significant now there are times when a building may be very significant to the community as a whole but as far as National Register eligibility it doesn’t meet those criteria and a lot of times it will be due to those integrity issues. There’s been a lot of alterations, additions, materials have been changed out, you can’t really identify the history fabric anymore and in this case we didn’t really have that to be honest. All the ones that we were thinking would be eligible for the National Register are pretty much the same ones that the community red-flagged as being important. Now, we had a couple cases of property owners flagging their own properties for whatever reason and it just didn’t add up to National Register criteria eligibility.
Q: How does historical preservation help create a community identity?
“...the image the community should strive for is really up to the community members, because coming in as an outsider I can recognize certain things that I see as important but I really think that that’s more geared toward the community itself and South Fairmount does have an active community council that has been involved with community meetings and design meetings as well as stakeholder meetings, there was always at least one representative from the community council… so they really drive that but in general the cultural significance of the area really helps build upon new development, I think Over-the-Rhine is one of the best examples you could have of that. You have one of the largest collections of Italian 8-style buildings, density-wise, in the country, and I think that’s what draws a lot of people to the area. If that wasn’t here I think it’d be a whole different neighborhood, it brings the charm to the area and nowadays its so easy to put up any sort of building so they all start to look alike – so are you attracted to a neighborhood that looks just like neighborhoods A through Z or are you into a neighborhood that whether you [like] history or not you can recognize that is something different, there’s something unique about this place and I think that’s what brings a lot of people to the area. So in our report we looked at historic maps of the area starting from the 1800s up until 1950 or so and looking at a map from the 1930s to what’s where today, about half the buildings are gone already, and that’s before this project even really took off.
Of course, working with the community, they’re going to be the best ones to identify what is significant and also be able to identify what they would like to see, you know, would they like to continue to have business that cater to the community coming to and from because they may be typical businesses, but they do bring in revenue? Or do they want to see a return to more residential, family-areas and do something with the streets so they’re not essentially highways in your front yard?
Q: Whats the best way to deal with the five buildings in direct conflict with the VCS?
“Four have been listed [one has not yet been purchased by the county] on a website called historicproperties.com for sale, now if they’re for sale you’re got to move it but that’s not unusual for these types of properties… but even if you’re offering to sell the building for a dollar the cost of moving the building, you’re going to have to buy the lot – is it feasible and is it something you want to do? Of those four that have been listed, I think I listed them on the site in December, and they’re still up there, I’ve received a couple of responses but no serious interest in moving them. I was also contacted by This Old House magazine and every month they feature a historic property that’s endangered… and they are going to feature [one of the buildings on Westwood] in their May edition, so maybe that will bring some light [to the situation]. They’re had a lot more luck with advertising these buildings, they have about a 50% success rate, so hopefully when that issue hits news stands, soon that will garner some interest and that would be the best way of saving these buildings, honestly, if someone would purchase it and relocate it to a new lot, hopefully nearby (which will be) less expensive so it stays in the community.
Now, with the design that’s foraging ahead at the moment, it is going to be that pedestrian-driven, bringing families back into the area [sort of thing] as opposed to the thoroughfare that it is now… and especially like the case with OTR, like maybe those people don’t always stick around after five to ten years so you need a diversity of people and activities and businesses and all sorts of things to keep it thriving. I think that would be the key, so again having those ideas and figuring out how to get to that point… the best case scenario is that this work is done in the Lick Run corridor and then that spurs developers to come into the area and say ‘OK now this has really good potential, more so than it did five years ago when there wasn’t much going on.”
Right now, I see South Fairmount, even after the project is built, as being the newest opportunity area – OTR is kind of built out now.
There are certainly community members that really want to see the area thrive and really put a lot of time and effort into keeping the area viable, but with the work or a few people it’s hard to overcome the larger issues of the area… And I’ve actually heard from community members that they’re happy to see this project because this is the first time a long time, if ever, that South Fairmount has garnered this much attention. It’s often overlooked because it’s such been such a thoroughfare, commuter bypass for so many years… they’re kind of hoping this will be good change.”
“...before we even started our survey work, MSD held a number of community design workshops and community meetings and there was a survey of ‘what do you think is significant?’ Because we can do all the research in the world but won’t know some of the particular stories of some of these places and so we did use their feedback to determine what is significant now there are times when a building may be very significant to the community as a whole but as far as National Register eligibility it doesn’t meet those criteria and a lot of times it will be due to those integrity issues. There’s been a lot of alterations, additions, materials have been changed out, you can’t really identify the history fabric anymore and in this case we didn’t really have that to be honest. All the ones that we were thinking would be eligible for the National Register are pretty much the same ones that the community red-flagged as being important. Now, we had a couple cases of property owners flagging their own properties for whatever reason and it just didn’t add up to National Register criteria eligibility.
Q: How does historical preservation help create a community identity?
“...the image the community should strive for is really up to the community members, because coming in as an outsider I can recognize certain things that I see as important but I really think that that’s more geared toward the community itself and South Fairmount does have an active community council that has been involved with community meetings and design meetings as well as stakeholder meetings, there was always at least one representative from the community council… so they really drive that but in general the cultural significance of the area really helps build upon new development, I think Over-the-Rhine is one of the best examples you could have of that. You have one of the largest collections of Italian 8-style buildings, density-wise, in the country, and I think that’s what draws a lot of people to the area. If that wasn’t here I think it’d be a whole different neighborhood, it brings the charm to the area and nowadays its so easy to put up any sort of building so they all start to look alike – so are you attracted to a neighborhood that looks just like neighborhoods A through Z or are you into a neighborhood that whether you [like] history or not you can recognize that is something different, there’s something unique about this place and I think that’s what brings a lot of people to the area. So in our report we looked at historic maps of the area starting from the 1800s up until 1950 or so and looking at a map from the 1930s to what’s where today, about half the buildings are gone already, and that’s before this project even really took off.
Of course, working with the community, they’re going to be the best ones to identify what is significant and also be able to identify what they would like to see, you know, would they like to continue to have business that cater to the community coming to and from because they may be typical businesses, but they do bring in revenue? Or do they want to see a return to more residential, family-areas and do something with the streets so they’re not essentially highways in your front yard?
Q: Whats the best way to deal with the five buildings in direct conflict with the VCS?
“Four have been listed [one has not yet been purchased by the county] on a website called historicproperties.com for sale, now if they’re for sale you’re got to move it but that’s not unusual for these types of properties… but even if you’re offering to sell the building for a dollar the cost of moving the building, you’re going to have to buy the lot – is it feasible and is it something you want to do? Of those four that have been listed, I think I listed them on the site in December, and they’re still up there, I’ve received a couple of responses but no serious interest in moving them. I was also contacted by This Old House magazine and every month they feature a historic property that’s endangered… and they are going to feature [one of the buildings on Westwood] in their May edition, so maybe that will bring some light [to the situation]. They’re had a lot more luck with advertising these buildings, they have about a 50% success rate, so hopefully when that issue hits news stands, soon that will garner some interest and that would be the best way of saving these buildings, honestly, if someone would purchase it and relocate it to a new lot, hopefully nearby (which will be) less expensive so it stays in the community.
Now, with the design that’s foraging ahead at the moment, it is going to be that pedestrian-driven, bringing families back into the area [sort of thing] as opposed to the thoroughfare that it is now… and especially like the case with OTR, like maybe those people don’t always stick around after five to ten years so you need a diversity of people and activities and businesses and all sorts of things to keep it thriving. I think that would be the key, so again having those ideas and figuring out how to get to that point… the best case scenario is that this work is done in the Lick Run corridor and then that spurs developers to come into the area and say ‘OK now this has really good potential, more so than it did five years ago when there wasn’t much going on.”
Right now, I see South Fairmount, even after the project is built, as being the newest opportunity area – OTR is kind of built out now.
There are certainly community members that really want to see the area thrive and really put a lot of time and effort into keeping the area viable, but with the work or a few people it’s hard to overcome the larger issues of the area… And I’ve actually heard from community members that they’re happy to see this project because this is the first time a long time, if ever, that South Fairmount has garnered this much attention. It’s often overlooked because it’s such been such a thoroughfare, commuter bypass for so many years… they’re kind of hoping this will be good change.”