City Council has given the administration six months to determine the future of historic preservation, including whether to revive the Historical Architectural Review Board or establish a new oversight system.<\/p>\n
Council voted unanimously Monday to continue a temporary process for reviewing alterations to properties in the city\u2019s historic districts, but shortened the administration\u2019s requested one-year extension to six months.<\/p>\n
The decision followed a lengthy discussion about the inactive board, staffing changes and concerns about maintaining architectural standards in Reading\u2019s historic neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
The architectural review board, which traditionally reviewed proposed exterior alterations to buildings in locally designated historic districts, has no members.<\/p>\n
Under the temporary process, city staff handles routine applications, administrators review other proposals and council considers larger projects and appeals. Consulting architects also assist with reviews.<\/p>\n
City officials are working with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission to evaluate the city\u2019s preservation regulations following a state review that identified deficiencies in the ordinance adopted in 1999.<\/p>\n
The administration is considering whether to reconstitute the review board or establish a different advisory board under a revised ordinance.<\/p>\n
Councilman Jaime Baez Jr. questioned the prolonged absence of an independent review board and expressed concern about concentrating preservation decisions within the administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just feel like it\u2019s unchecked,\u201d Baez said. \u201cThe HARB board was an independent board, and \u2026 the board being independent, I think made me feel more comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council President Donna Reed emphasized that the review board has not been formally eliminated.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point in time, HARB isn\u2019t dead; it\u2019s vacant,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n
Reed, a former historic district property owner, said preservation protections were an important reason she purchased a home in one of the city\u2019s designated districts.<\/p>\n
She expressed concern that inappropriate replacement materials and alterations could gradually diminish the architectural character of historic neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistoric preservation is part of economic development. It\u2019s part of tourism,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n
She also questioned whether concentrating decisions among a small number of administrators could jeopardize preservation standards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if we bring everything to, like, one or two people, despite good intentions, that we\u2019re playing with fire in terms of historic preservation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Deputy Community Development Director Patricia Vasquez said the administration is pursuing a state grant to help evaluate and revise the preservation ordinance.<\/p>\n
City Managing Director Jack Gombach said the city must address deficiencies in the existing ordinance before determining the appropriate structure for future reviews. The administration is pursuing technical assistance and exploring ways to maintain services while controlling costs.<\/p>\n
Gombach also confirmed that the administration does not plan to replace the historic preservation specialist and preservation clerk positions. Instead, their responsibilities would be absorbed by other Community Development Department personnel.<\/p>\n
Councilman Raymond Baker questioned whether that approach would adequately address previously identified problems with preservation reviews.<\/p>\n
Reading\u2019s historic preservation ordinance establishes minimum professional qualifications for the city\u2019s preservation officer, requiring a graduate degree in history, architectural history or a closely related field, or a bachelor\u2019s degree in one of those fields combined with at least two years of professional experience.<\/p>\n
As a Certified Local Government under the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission\u2019s historic preservation program, Reading also must maintain a qualified preservation board, provide staff support and meet ongoing preservation standards.<\/p>\n
Council Solicitor Michael Gombar, however, cautioned against hastily reconstituting a board under an ordinance the state has identified as deficient.<\/p>\n
Councilman O. Christopher Miller urged officials to better inform historic district property owners about current review procedures and anticipated changes, suggesting the city post information on its website or social media.<\/p>\n
Miller also proposed reducing the extension to six months, allowing the administration to continue processing applications while giving council an earlier opportunity to assess progress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City Council has given the administration six months to determine the future of historic preservation, including whether to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,857,182,139,28,736,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-306416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-essential-reading","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}