MYTHBUSTERS!
Monday, April 14th, 2008
About Neighborhood Conservation Districts
1. Through a suggestion by Cason Carter, PreserveMidtown was created to bring public awareness to the issue of infill development in January, 2007.
2. We attended the Mayor’s neighborhood picnics throughout the summer of 2007 to speak to the issues of infill development.
3. We launched our website www.preservemidtown.com in June, 2007.
4. We hosted a public forum on “Teardowns in Tulsa” on infill development in October, 2007.
5. We discovered through networking with Homeowner Associations that Maria Barnes was championing NCD’s.
6. PreserveMidtown, along with the
7. PreserveMidtown distributed a survey to all city council candidates about the infill issues and posted it on their website, www.preservemidtown.com.
8. PreserveMidtown distributed over 500 signs at the request of supporters of “building homes that fit the neighborhood.”
Myth: Supporter’s of NCD’s is a small group.
Mythbuster: We have contacted over 2,000 people who support and are interested in NCD’s.
Mythbuster: Steve Novick, attorney-at-law, who is a neighborhood advocate and board member of PreserveMidtown, sits on the committee. Paul Kane, who is executive vice- president of the Homebuilder’s Association, also sits on the committee.
Mythbuster: That is exactly what PreserveMidtown is against—control. We want the discussion of who “controls” the neighborhoods to be held in a public manner with input from as many resident property owners as possible.
If anti-neighborhood conservation districts people don’t like control, why are they trying to control what happens in other people’s neighborhoods.
Why would someone living on 45th street try to control what happens on 22nd street by denying that neighborhood the ability to adopt a neighborhood conservation district?
Mythbuster: “A conservation district zoning overlay is a more site-specific application of the city’s authority to plan and zone. The legal basis for conservation districts, therefore, are essentially the same as the legal basis for our current zoning code, as are the fundamental policy considerations (i.e. balancing private property rights and community interests.)” Jack Blair, “Neighborhood Conservation Districts”, November 20, 2007.