ESCANABA — The City of Escanaba’s Historic District Commission (HDC) held its first regular meeting of the new year. Agenda items centered around the contentious topic of the Ogden Triangle — a region which has been surveyed for possible adoption as a local historic district — attracted several members of the public. Comments, questions and concerns occupied much of the nearly-two-hour meeting, which ultimately saw the rejection of a “newspaper outreach plan” and failure to form a study committee.

In the absence of Chair Don Curran, the meeting was conducted by Vice Chair Judith Fouts with the aid of Commissioner Rebecca McIntyre. The first two business items were about (1) recommending the appointment of a historic district study committee to the City Council and (2) a plan to submit for publication in the Daily Press a series of pre-written articles on the benefits of historic preservation. The resulting, unexpected course of actions were driven by public engagement and discussion by the commission.

Residents expressed concern that the formation of a historic district would limit their freedoms when it came to remodeling their homes — or at the very least, lengthen the process for approval. One was under the impression that the House of Ludington had gained historic status under one owner, which had then encumbered subsequent owners by preventing work on it — this is not the case.

Downtown Ludington Street is on the National Register of Historic Places, an honorary title that does not restrict a property owner from even bulldozing and rebuilding as they choose. A local historic district would aim to keep the character of a place consistent, particularly in regards to architectural features characteristic of a certain time period, doing what regular zoning regulations cannot, but it would be the job of a yet unformed study committee to determine what standards to set.

McIntyre noted that historic districts in other cities may be looked to as “guidelines,” but reiterated that no rules are even drafted yet for the Ogden Triangle — whose borders may change if the concept even progresses.

Planning and Zoning Administrator and Liaison Tyler Anthony referred to the work done by Michigan State Historic Preservation Office Certified Local Government Coordinator Alan Higgins as a “reconnaissance-level survey.”

Secretary Karen Lindquist added that the report did not consider historically significant people who may have lived in the homes, but was based solely on architectural features. She expected the proposed area to change if and when further research is done.

“And maybe when people talk about it, they’ll say ‘we don’t want this,’ and that’s fine,” she said, a sentiment echoed across the room.

Escanaba residents John Anthony and Mike Growdon asked about tax credits, to which there was not yet an answer.

The pursuit of this potential district, kicked off by the previous Planning and Zoning Administrator, began because it was in line with the city’s Master Plan. Commissioners explained this was one very early stage, and that work by a study committee would likely last more than a year. They repeatedly thanked people for such early feedback, noting that it usually arises only at the end of a project, if at all.

Growdon, a citizen living within the Triangle, has reportedly done some of the legwork that was going to be tasked to the study committee.

Pointing out that 50% of the residents in a proposed area — not just those whose houses have been deemed “contributing” — must be on board with the establishment of a historic district, Growdon said that he had informally polled some neighbors on the 200, 300, and 500 blocks.

“It’s just about unanimous that there’s not interest in doing this,” he said. “Strong opposition.”

However, one person who spoke during public comment was in favor of the historic district.

Jim Shapy, who has recently moved back to Escanaba, said that the waterfront city is “beautiful,” and that recognizing a historic area could have wider benefits.

This summer, he said, someone from one of the tours stopped him for directions and remarked, “This looks like a Spielberg movie.”

Lindquist mentioned past tours, too.

“One thing that I noticed when we did house tours and home driving tours around Escanaba, was that when attention was called to the historic nature of their neighborhoods, people started fixing up things a lot faster,” she said. “Just like when the tour boats came, everybody was down pulling weeds from cracks in the sidewalk. And that’s kind of a good thing.”

Shapy addressed the newspaper plan and one flaw in it: “Most of the people I talked to don’t read the newspaper. … There’s a lot of misinformation on the internet, a lot of whispers going around, and a lot of negativity around what’s going on.”

He said that the HDC is touting positives, but people deserve to hear both pros and cons.

Growdon and others also indicated they would appreciate a more thorough, two-sided investigation about the benefits and drawbacks of historic districts, particularly ones in other regions of the Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin.

While the public expressed unease about the thought of the HDC pushing forward with their “newspaper outreach plan” that proposed to submit 12 articles — one per week — to the Daily Press, commissioners didn’t like the pre-written articles that were presented in the agenda packet, either. They had been developed from research done by a firm called PlaceEconomics and were full of statistics drawn from cities like Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., which commissioners felt bore no commonalities with Escanaba.

The HDC voted to reject the newspaper outreach plan as presented. Instead, McIntyre and Tyler Anthony agreed to work together on a “pros and cons” document. It was also suggested that staff use other media besides the paper to get word out, such as radio.

Circular discussion around the recommendation of a study committee reached no verdict that evening. The proposed idea was that such a committee would consist of about seven members, including two members of the HDC; two members of the Delta County Historical Society; the Planning and Zoning Administrator; and two members of the public, preferably residents of the Ogden Triangle area unless one is a registered architect. However, during discussion, this plan was brought into question.

City Council Liaison Karen Moore suggested just presenting the idea of a committee to council, rather than a list of names. She also asked whether more positions could be added; the answer was that if the number of citizens was inflated, so, too, would the number of historians.

The historical society had already selected its two members for participation on a study committee, but as both Chair Curran and Commissioner Monte Morrison were absent from the meeting, the HDC was unprepared to put forward its selection. The commission toyed with the idea of instead forming an ad hoc citizen’s committee, but were uncertain how to go about doing so. McIntyre said they needed to make sure not to violate the Open Meetings Act.

Some members of the public may be under the assumption that because they already expressed interest in serving on a committee — whether it be in person or by email to city staff, commissioners, or council members — that they have already applied and that their names are already on a “list” for consideration. This is not true. Only when an ad is placed will applications officially be open.

The final order of the business, which actually did go through, was the adoption of revised bylaws. One addition stated that written comments must be received by 1 p.m. on a meeting date to be included — wording also adopted by the Planning Commission at their last meeting. According to the background provided on the agenda item report, other changes were based on staff experience and largely were to add more specific provisions and correct outdated or inaccurate language.