Geneva wants your input on preservation

Do you like the way old Geneva looks -- tree-lined streets dotted with older houses?

What, if anything, should be done to keep it that way? Or should the government stay out of it, leaving the free market to determine whether old buildings are worth preserving?

And just what is "old" or "historic?"

City officials want your opinion as they develop a historic preservation plan. You can give it in several ways.

One is an online questionnaire on the city's Web site, www.geneva.il.us.

The other is at a public hearing at 7 p.m. Sept. 25 at the public works building, 1800 South St.

Karla Kaulfuss, the city's historic preservation planner, said although the city has a Historic Preservation Commission and a historic district downtown that is 20 years old, it never made a plan. She says that is unusual.

"I felt it was important to acknowledge where we were, but also the future," she said.

For example, is the community interested in designating any other areas as historic districts? Two that come to Kaulfuss' mind are an area south of the downtown along Batavia Avenue, and the Northwest Addition area north of State Street, near Richards Street.

The online survey has eight questions, including what are the qualities that make Geneva special; what needs to be done to advance historic preservation; what the biggest misconception is about historic preservation; what is not being adequately addressed in historic preservation; what the greatest threat is to historic properties; and what three historical or cultural resources do you value most in Geneva.

The city expects the plan to address preservation efforts including the work of the HPC, potential individual landmarks, ordinances, zoning and financial incentives for historic preservation.

Why do this?

Geneva is mostly built out. Real estate investment and improvement activities are focusing more on Geneva's mature, developed areas, according to Kaulfuss.

Technically, under Geneva's current ordinances, a building can be considered for historic preservation if it is at least 30 years old. If somebody wants to preserve post-war ranch homes or 1970s split-levels, they could suggest that in the workshop, but Kaulfuss suspects more people think of the high-style Italianate and Queen Anne houses of the late 1800s and early 1900s when they think "historical."

Geneva already has the Geneva Historic District, created in 1987 and encompassing two sub-districts that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It covers most of the downtown west of Route 31 to Seventh Street. Exterior additions, alterations or new construction for sites in the district have to be approved by the HPC.