Geneva rejects making second historic district
The Geneva City Council Monday refused to create a new historic district.
Cheers erupted from the approximately 100 people attending the meeting, after five aldermen voted against creating the South Geneva Historic District.
The district would have included 29 addresses, generally south of Cheever Avenue, north of Peck Road, and east and west of South Batavia Avenue.
Aldermen Craig Maladra, Gabriel Kaven, Richard Marks, Tara Burghart and Dean Kilburg voted against the proposal. Aldermen Mike Bruno, Becky Hruby and Jeanne McGowan voted in favor.
Because more than 20 percent of the owners of properties in the district formally objected, seven "aye" votes were required to establish the district.
Alderman Michael Clements was absent, on a family trip planned over a year ago, Mayor Kevin Burns said.
And Alderman Robert Swanson recused himself. Swanson and his family lived in a house in the proposed district; they sold the property two weeks ago, but Swanson said Monday he still believed he should not participate in the matter. He left the room for the two-hour discussion.
The owners of five properties applied for the district.
"We believe this matter (historic preservation) is vital to Geneva's continued economic success," said Jillian McNamara, one of the applicants. " ... This historic district is a present from us to all Genevans."
But later, three of the applicants filed formal objections to forming the district.
Flaws in process?
Opponents argued that the process was flawed. After the application was filed, the requested boundaries were amended and more addresses were added. Several owners said they did not receive proper legal notice that their properties had been added until a public hearing about the district was already underway.
Objectors also have criticized the city's historic preservation planner, saying emails between him and the applicants show he suggested ways to expand the proposed district and avoid triggering the need for a supermajority vote by the council.
The houses were built from the mid-1800s to the 1950s.
Speaker after speaker Monday said that they favor historic preservation, and said there is no danger the neighborhood is going to undergo change such as teardowns for newer houses.
But McGowan said that doesn't guarantee the houses, some of which were occupied by people important to Geneva's history, will be preserved in the future.
"It is nothing against the current property owners. It is about who comes next," she said.
History
In 2004, a 100-year-old limestone house, one of two matching houses built by Mayor Henry Bond Fargo, co-founder of the Wells-Fargo company, was torn down. That outraged some residents of the area. In 2010, the city studied creating a second district, but residents of the area persuaded the city to stop the study until the city's historic-preservation law was reviewed.
The city did update its historic preservation law, but retained the power to create historic districts without owner consent.