The Legislature’s moratorium on creating a historic district in Yalecrest may last another 15 months, but this time the push is coming from Salt Lake City.
On Thursday, a Senate committee unanimously approved Sen. Wayne Niederhauser’s bill, which would extend his one-year ban to May 2013. But the Sandy Republican warned that if the sides fail to reach a compromise by next year, he would run a related bill "in my back pocket" that requires signatures from two-thirds of Yalecrest residents before such a district could be designated.
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In an interview, Niederhauser defended the two-thirds threshold, calling the controversial preservation district that places strict rules on remodels "a very extreme restriction" of property rights. "When you start going to that extreme," he said, "there needs to be more buy-in."
The historic-district conundrum has splintered and polarized the east-bench hamlet, one of the city’s oldest and most-admired neighborhoods.
A mitigation process, headed by former Utah Supreme Court Justice Michael Zimmerman, broke down last year amid city elections. But new District 6 Councilman Charlie Luke said the city went to Niederhauser, not the other way around, to get more time.
"We requested it," Luke said about the extra year. "It was unrealistic to think we could get the process taken care of before the initial moratorium expired."
In the interim, Luke says the city hopes to finalize new preservation options — particularly a less-restrictive "conservation" district — which is favored by pro-preservation residents such as Annie Payne.
"If people knew the difference, there wouldn’t be so much turmoil,"Paynesaid. "The problem is, there is no conservation district in Utah. We would be the first."
Yalecrest resident Dale Zabriskie told the committee the two-thirds standard "needs real serious consideration."
Yalecrest remodels, if not more than 75 percent of a home, still would be allowed during the extended moratorium, but tear-downs would not. The measure also would apply to city neighborhoods listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to Luke.
If a solution to the preservation impasse can be reached, "you can go solve the Middle East crisis," Sen. Pat Jones, D-Holladay, told Luke.
"That," he laughed, "would be easier."
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