Residents along West Oak Street in Denton have spent years fighting projects they thought would mar their neighborhood’s character.

Apartments. A towing company. And, most recently, a fraternity house.

DRC/Al Key

Members of the West Oak Area Homeowners Association stand in front of Darlene Stewart’s home at 2003 W. Oak St. on Thursday. Residents hope the City Council will approve a historic district for their area north of the University of North Texas.

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The battles left them weary and eager for a better way to prevent unwelcome land uses. Now, they think they’ve found a solution.

Residents are asking the City Council to approve a historic district encompassing about 50 acres of the West Oak Street neighborhood north of the University of North Texas.

Supporters say the district would discourage incompatible development in the area.

“We don’t feel that we should have to constantly be fighting encroachments,” said Elise Ridenour, vice president of the West Oak Area Homeowners Association. “And a historic district will definitely help stem that tide.”

The Planning and Zoning Commission endorsed the district this week after a public hearing drew supporters and critics of the idea. The council is expected to consider the plan as early as next month.

The district would include 82 buildings — — mostly homes — and two vacant lots along or near West Oak between Bonnie Brae and Jagoe streets.

The area would retain its basic residential zoning. But property owners would face an extra set of regulations if they wanted to alter their homes’ exteriors, and new construction would face added scrutiny.

That’s a major selling point for many residents in the neighborhood, where homes date to as early as 1892. But others see the proposal as an intrusion on their property rights and another layer of government bureaucracy.

“I’m opposed to the regulation,” said Billie Jean Martin, who owns a rental property on West Oak in the proposed district. “I’m op­posed to having someone else’s opinions imposed upon me.”

Ridenour said most people who live within the district’s proposed boundaries support its creation. The regulations would simply help preserve the area’s character and ensure new development is compatible with existing homes, she said.

“There is not a property owner in Denton that can do whatever they want,” she said. “We all live with many, many regulations. The regulations that are being proposed in this district are very minor.”

Property owners inside the district would need a permit — officially called a “certificate of appropriateness” — from the city’s Historic Landmark Com­mis­sion to erect a new building or to alter the facade of an existing structure. The commission, a nine-member board appointed by the City Council, would ensure the proposed changes comply with the district’s detailed architectural requirements.

If the commission denied a permit, the applicant could appeal to the council.

“Everybody has a recourse,” said Julie Glover, the city official who is working with the neighborhood on the historic district application.

Genesis

Glover, the city’s economic development program administrator, said Denton’s long-term plan encourages the creation of historic districts to preserve neighborhoods. The proposed West Oak district meets the criteria for historic districts in the development code, she said.

Neighborhood leaders have been working on the proposal since 2002. But a lengthy fight over zoning for a proposed apartment complex on West Oak sidetracked them for a time, Ridenour said. The neighborhood group prevailed but had to pay an attorney more than $20,000 to represent its interests, she said.

Other land-use battles followed. The most recent came in Nov­ember, when the council re­jected a religious organization’s re­quest to use a home at the southeast corner of West Oak and Miller streets as a fraternity house.

The request from Chi Alpha, a student ministry at UNT, met with heavy opposition from West Oak neighbors, who said a fraternity house wouldn’t fit in with the neighborhood. Chi Alpha later filed a lawsuit claiming the city violated its constitutional rights by rejecting its request. The suit is pending in a federal district court.

The battles convinced neighborhood leaders that they needed a historic district to preserve the area.

“It’s another barrier between us and the next person who wants to put in an apartment building or a fraternity house, or what-have-you,” Dixie Stevenson, president of the homeowner association, said during a public hearing on the district Wednesday.

‘Important part of Denton’

Stevenson said homes in the area deserve the extra protection.

“It’s an important part of Den­ton,” he said. “It’s been there so long that the streets were named after the people who lived there.”

The area grew along with UNT, and many prominent university figures lived there over the years. They included W.N. Masters, an original faculty member, and T.J. Fouts, an athletic coach, for whom Masters Hall and Fouts Field were named.

The houses range in age and style, from an 1892 farmhouse to 1920s bungalows, to ranch-style homes built in the last half-century, according to the historic district application. Two houses were designed by O’Neil Ford, the architect behind Denton City Hall, Little Chapel-in-the-Woods and other local landmarks.

The West Oak area would be the city’s second historic district and the first in two decades. The Oak-Hickory Historic District was created in 1988 and formed the model for the current proposal, Ridenour said.

“The Oak-Hickory district has been a very successful model,” she said. “There has been a whole layer of this added stability, so why reinvent the wheel?”

Still, some say that even seemingly positive effects — like a predicted rise in property values — will have a downside.

“That’s nice if you sell your property when property values are high,” said the Rev. Justin Frederick, of St. Maximus Orth­o­dox Church at 2026 W. Oak. “But in the meanwhile that higher property value means higher tax assessment.”

For Ridenour and many of her neighbors, though, forming the district is crucial to the area’s future.

“We are bordered by commercial districts, by educational districts and by low-income apartments,” she said. “We fight a constant, nonstop, ongoing incursion battle.

“I think it’s imperative that it happen now.”

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com .

What’s the difference between being placed on the National Register of Historic Places and living in a historic district?

The National Register District identifies significant properties and districts for general planning; designates historic areas based on uniform national criteria; makes federal tax breaks available to property owners; qualifies property owners for special state and federal grants for preservation; and does not prevent the demolition of historic buildings.

Local historic districts protect a community’s historic properties through a design review process; provide no tax incentive for preservation purposes unless it’s through a local tax incentive program; require local review and approval before a building permit is issued; and provide a review process for demolitions within the district.

How would property owners be affected by living in a district?

If a property owner wants to make major improvements to their property — whether it’s building an addition, enclosing a porch or changing the style of roof — the proposal would have to go before the city’s Historic Landmark Commission for approval.

How would the districts impact developers?

Developers would be required to go before the Historic Landmark Commission for a certificate of appropriateness before vacant lots could be developed. The main purpose for the review would be to make sure the new structures are comparable in size and design to existing buildings in the district. So while the district wouldn’t prohibit new development, it would require an additional level of review before a project could begin. It would also require that new construction be consistent with the look of the neighborhood.

What do supporters say?

Historic districts preserve existing homes and give property owners assurance that developers won’t build something that would reduce their property values.

What do opponents say?

The districts will strip property owners of their rights and add another level of bureaucracy to an already cumbersome development process.

If you live in a local historic district, what changes to your home must be approved by the commission?

Exterior changes substantially visible from the street, including renovations, additions and teardowns. Interior changes do not need approval. The Historic Landmark Commission reviews exterior changes to make sure they are compatible and appropriate to the district.

Do you have to change your home to meet the new standards?

No.

Does the commission approve all projects requiring review under the city’s historic district ordinance?

No. The commission reviews major projects, while minor ones may be approved solely by the commission staff, provided the projects are in keeping with commission policy.

How long do such approvals generally take?

Minor ones that can be handled by the staff take five days or fewer, in most cases. Major changes, which require commission approval, generally take at least 30 days.

If property owners in a historic district go ahead with projects without commission approval, what penalties do they face?

The current ordinance allows for fines up to $2,000 per day.

Once a local historic district is established, is the designation irrevocable?

No. The City Council could remove the designation, just as it can change any zoning decision.

What if I don’t want to be in the district or comply with the design guidelines?

You should attend district planning meetings to see where the proposed boundaries are and participate in the process of defining the design guidelines. However, all houses that are in the final approved district will be required to abide by the guidelines. Potential owners should be informed of the district and its restrictions prior to purchasing a home.

What if there are a lot of people that don’t want to be in the district?

If 20 percent of affected property owners oppose a district, it requires a supermajority vote (6-1) from the City Council.

SOURCE: City of Denton