The Buena Vista Neighborhood in Newport is already a National Historic District, but it needs local designation for complete protection—a discussion that’s been ongoing in Newport since around 2007.
That was why the neighborhood designation was discussed at the Newport Historic Preservation Commission on Wednesday. After an approximate three-hour discussion between the commission, city staff and residents, the commission voted to approve the local historic overlay.
Buena Vista consists of the areas between the north end of West 8th Street, the south part of West 12th Street, the west ends of Brighton and Lowell Streets, and the east side of Putnam and York Streets. The commission was given the option to approve a full overlay of that area or a smaller designation, but ultimately chose the full version so as not to divide the west side.
The local designation allows the city to guide homeowners in preservation efforts, prevent exterior changes outside of the city’s guidelines, and halt unnecessary demolitions that may threaten the neighborhood’s structural integrity. Those guidelines were the point of many residents’ concerns who spoke at the meeting against the district’s naming.
“Newport has come a long way,” Newport resident Glen Taylor said. “We used to have a bad name but we’re getting a good name and hopefully with these projects that we’ve got in store we don’t have to move our citizens out because being able to afford it.”
The city has held three public input sessions attended by the community, elected officials, etc., and notices were sent to everyone in the designated area alerting them of the historic preservation meeting, said Newport Planning and Building Director Brian Steffen.
The guidelines are intended to focus exclusively on the exterior of someone’s home, which includes the “readily visible portion” of the building or front corners forward to the front yard. The items on a building that would fall under the guidelines include windows, doors, siding, gutters, fencing, unpainted masonry, demolition, etc.
Steffen said a misunderstanding that has come up is that the city can force upgrades, which he said is not true.
“There are some folks that believe that this action is going to give the city the ability to force upgrades when buildings are not being worked on,” Steffen said. “If someone is not working on their building, there’s no function for the city to step in and say, ‘You have to take your vinyl siding off and replace it with wood.’ That’s not what the intention of this is.”
City staff repeatedly said during the meeting that should an item like siding or a window have previously been changed that would not follow the guidelines, the homeowner would not be required to change it.
Another topic Steffen said he received numerous comments about was paint colors. He said the city is not in the business of picking paint colors. The guidelines only involve painting if it’s for non-previously painted masonry or brick. He did say neon or fluorescent colors would not be prohibited.
The district will also create a permit process for obtaining a Certificate of Appropriateness, a document stating the proposed work is appropriate for the area. City staff said this certificate typically takes three days to receive.
Newport resident Alan Fryman and others at the meeting said they felt like the proposed guidelines felt like a Homeowners Association due to the restrictions.
“Nothing in these guidelines prohibit or even in the East Row (historic district) where the guidelines are more stringent nothing in the guidelines prohibit you from expressing yourself politically, religiously, socially, whether it be flags or yard signage, or whatever those types of things that you feel are important to you that you want to express,” Newport Assistant City Manager John Hayden said.
Steffen said there would be an opportunity for an appeal of a decision made by staff, a request for relief from strict application of guidelines, and a request for alternative materials.
Another issue raised during the meeting was the district’s lack of guidelines for people to view. Steffen said the city plans to use the Secretary of Interior Standards as a stopgap until it draws its own guidelines. He said those would be subject to another public input session for feedback. Steffen said the intent was not to waste taxpayer dollars to draft guidelines for something that must go through four avenues of approval.
Now that the historic preservation commission has approved the designation, the planning and zoning commission will hear the plans next month. If approved, it will move on to the city commission, estimated to be sometime in December, which will hear two readings before being adopted.
Increased property taxes due to raised home values was another concern brought up by residents in the area, including Taylor.
“I want to know how much is it going to affect us as we redo our homes because we do have a lot of seniors in that particular area that we’re talking about there that is on fixed incomes,” Taylor said.
Hayden said the Campbell County Property Value Administration would assess the homes as part of its routine.
“Statistically speaking, houses in a historic neighborhood tend to increase in value, so that’s obviously a double-edged sword; your house is worth more; you’d pay more taxes, but you can sell it for more money,” Hayden said.
Newport Historic Preservation Member Mary Beth Crocker said that just because someone’s house is in a historic district doesn’t mean the taxes will be increased. She said it is likely they won’t until the house sells or improvements are made, and then it gets reassessed.
Part of the conversation about increased taxes and costs, in general, led to a discussion about the city assisting folks in the district for repairs. Hayden said the topic had been discussed at the staff level, but it was not part of the approval by the historic preservation commission and would not be brought up until the item reached the city commission.
“I think that there is an appetite with our board as far as creating a mechanism in which there’ll be grant programs, facade programs, things like that for people on a needs base,” Hayden said.
Newport resident and Vice Chair of the West Side Citizens Coalition Brant Owens spoke in support of the historic district on behalf of the West Side Citizens Coalition.
“We feel that the city has taken appropriate steps within these guidelines to minimize the potential burdens to existing property owners without stifling the upkeep or rehab of existing properties or the building of new developments while also protecting the west side neighborhood history, character, and complexion,” Owens said.
Newport Resident Josh Tunning also spoke in favor of the historic district designation, saying that the local district would provide protections for “working-class homes.”
“We talked about it earlier about how our seniors built this town into what it is today,” Tunning said. “I think if you look at our neighborhood, west Newport, it shows that our history is a neighborhood of working-class people that’s filled with these working-class homes, including the shotguns (type of home.) I think that legacy of working-class people and working-class architecture is worth protecting, and I think this is what we need to protect that.”
Newport Historic Preservation Member Ken Clift said in his years on the board that staff will always work with a homeowner to complete their project.
“It’s always been the aim of the commission to help the homeowner get what they need and get it as reasonably as possible,” Clift said. “There is always a solution.”
