Neighbors seek West Broadway neighborhood Historic District

[runawayjim]

you know... if you hit reply and just type below their quote, it works a lot better.

[Lone Ranger]

I'm a nice guy at heart, so I'll just assume that your original message wasn't nearly as summary and dismissive as the message we see now.

Newport is a pretty small community, Mr. Bestoso, and you're raising a relatively big stink. It wouldn't hurt to know how to address those who hold an opinion contrary to your own.

[rob bestoso]

Like runawayjim, I am interested in how you are doing your survey. Please tell us more, especially what the question(s) are, etc.

I'm not surprised that the woman living behind the new construction on Callender Avenue isn't a fan of the project. People rarely like when a new house is built next door, regardless of its quality. That being said, if memory serves me right, the house is set back a good number of feet from the street. If it were at all possible, I would have been in favor of it being closer to the street, helping to fix the 3-foot backyard problem. But, regardless of our opinions on it, the house is built.

As for the height or massing of the house (not the setbacks), it doesn't seem to be drastically out of character with the rest of the neighborhood. While it needed a height variance, the home's height is only two (three?) feet above the current zoning and within the old zoning regulations. It doesn't seem to tower above its neighbors. And architecturally, it fits in with the neighborhood - while it isn't a historic replica, it does use some historic features. (Personally, I can't stand historic replicas; Newport needs some more courageous architecture...but that's another discussion.)

From my perspective, the neighborhood is a mixed-income, fairly compact, high-density area of single- and multi-family homes. The new construction doesn't seem to be wildly inappropriate to me as I walked down Callender. As for affordability, I agree: all neighborhoods in Newport (a prime coastal area) are becoming more expensive. If there's one place outside the North End that has any semblance of affordability, this is it. (I don't see how blaming people for getting the best price for their homes accomplishes much.)

While no one can argue with the neighborhood's historic qualities, there are many other historic neighborhoods in the city that are not under the HDC...nor do they need to be. Not every historic area should be frozen in time and expensive to live in.

The bottom line is that, though we have differing opinions on the new house on Callender, I applaud your interest in urging appropriate new construction. But the HDC seems to be a very restrictive and expensive way to do it; this does not seem to be an appropriate method for a mixed-income neighborhood in a city in need of reasonably-priced housing. Are there other methods you have considered with the city to encourage sensitive new construction? For example, re-examining the zoning code, working on a form-based code, creating a historic district with less restrictive requirements, etc.?

[rob bestoso]

I'm a nice guy at heart, so I'll just assume that your original message wasn't nearly as summary and dismissive as the message we see now.

Newport is a pretty small community, Mr. Bestoso, and you're raising a relatively big stink. It wouldn't hurt to know how to address those who hold an opinion contrary to your own.

[Dan]

So what was the result of all this? If its a working-class area, its amazing it has remained that way this long, considering the lowest priced home I found last week was priced at $279k (as-is in need of work).

I work in Newport now and I've driven through this area on the way in. I see lots of blight and lots of potential, and folks I've talked to mostly agree that houses on streets which are later designated "Historic Districts" become prohibitively expensive to maintain. I have been told that you need to obtain a special permit to re-screen a porch door or replace a pane of glass (maybe a little extreme but I got the gist), and the town needs to inspect each and every change to ensure historic integrity. Lower and middle-class residents just can't afford to pay for these services, and sadly these homes will fall further into disrepair until the homeowner throws in the towel and takes a deal from one of these speculators.

I think this is a great area for some kind of creative homeowner rehab/revitalization incentive program, but the Historic Districts probably aren't going to make it happen.