ORLANDO, Fla. — A moratorium allowing redevelopment applications to bypass Historic Preservation Board requirements went into effect Monday after Orlando city leaders approved it in a 4-2 vote back in June.

The moratorium allows new applications to avoid receiving a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Board and instead go directly to the Orlando Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). City officials said no applications had been submitted as of the day the moratorium took effect, but a recently approved incentive program could help to change that.

The decision has drawn differing views from downtown property owners and Historic Preservation Board members. Many developers and property owners attended meetings and shared public comment about some of the challenges they’ve faced with the Historic Preservation Board regulations.

For property owners Frank Hamby and his wife, the moratorium could affect plans for The Beacham in a positive way. The couple have owned the historic downtown building since 1989, and Hamby said they’ve invested millions of dollars into the building’s interior. They increased capacity, changed the business plan and are now focusing on events in the venue.

Hamby said he and his wife have been before the Historic Preservation Board board several times, and the process has not always been easy.

“We’ve gone in front of them before, many times,” said Hamby, owner of The Beacham. “So they’re going to take a look at your plans after you’ve paid the architect, they’re going to make changes to it, then it’s got to go back to them.”

The process has made exterior upgrades more difficult for small business owners, he said, but he believes the moratorium could allow his team to move forward with broader facade work. Hamby said he has no issues with the board members, and understands that they all have a job to do; however, he shared that this change offers a lot of hope moving forward.

“We already have plans in to redo the facade of The Beacham, but we’re going to push ahead to do the facade all around the block now,” Hamby said. “There’s going to be more things that we’re going to be able to do, more cost-effective things that we’re going to be able to do not having to go through the Historic Preservation Board.”

Historic Preservation Board Chair Jeff Thompson said the moratorium removes the board from the downtown district review process. The board is made up of volunteers, many with years of experience in architecture or other industries that offer expertise to historic preservation. Thompson said the board simply acts as an advisory board to the city commissioners, so the moratorium doesn’t make sense to him since the city already has the authority to approve or reject the board’s recommendations.

“We have no role,” he said, now that the moratorium has been approved and is now effective.

“In the downtown district, it’s no longer in our purview,” Thompson said. “So how does it change things? It takes it out of our purview and we don’t get to look at anything.”

Thompson said he is concerned that once a historic building’s facade is changed or a building is demolished, that piece of history is gone. He referenced a previous historic building that was demolished, known as the Woolworth-McCory building. He said, like that building, once it’s gone it can’t be replaced with photos, and the moratorium could encourage developers to seek demolition for buildings they previously believed were protected because of their historic status.

Hamby said that despite the concerns that property owners and developers may begin demolishing historic buildings, that is not his plan. But he does believe work needs to be done and now he has more freedom to make it happen.

In addition to the moratorium going into effect, The Orlando Community Redevelopment Agency, which is made up of Orlando City Council members, also approved an incentive program that will work with the moratorium. The city said the program is aimed at helping to speed up redevelopment in the downtown historic district.