Naperville approves safeguards for historic landmark attempts without owner consent

After recent high-profile attempts to declare buildings as historic landmarks without the consent of property owners, the Naperville City Council agreed on a compromise to bridge the two sides.

Council members recently unanimously approved an ordinance creating safeguards for property owners. Part of the process moving forward will include the requirement of council authorization for a landmark application to proceed without owner consent.

The ordinance comes in response to debates over the future of sites such as the old Nichols Library and the Kroehler YMCA, both on Washington Street. While landmark status was granted to the library, which subsequently was transformed into the Gia Mia restaurant, the Kroehler YMCA facility was demolished to make room for redevelopment.

Community members, property owners and city officials went back and forth on landmarking rights at numerous city council meetings. Council members ultimately directed city staff to research best practices in historic preservation and develop a procedure to protect property owners from involuntarily submitting to landmark designation.

The city's Historic Preservation Commission and Planning and Zoning Commission each reviewed the new proposal. At last month's city council meeting, the ordinance passed 9-0.

Mayor Steve Chirico praised the effort to reach a difficult compromise.

"This has been an ongoing effort for two years now," he said. "It's taken a lot of back and forth, a lot of compromise. I don't think anybody's a hundred percent happy with this."

Chirico said he supported the ordinance despite not being happy with the low threshold of a simple 5-4 majority on the city council to approve a landmark request without the consent of the property owner.

The ordinance also establishes notification deadlines for landmarking procedures to move forward, including notification from nonowners of their intent to request landmark status for a building.