Exploring the Applicability of Neighborhood Conservation Districts to New York City: A Senior Practitioner Ginsberg Fellow Project
By Carol Clark
Rethinking Neighborhood Preservation aims to identify and advance planning and zoning tools to help protect the integrity of New York City’s historic neighborhoods while facilitating appropriate development. The project’s principal researcher is CHPC’s William R. Ginsberg 2009 Senior Practitioner Fellow, Carol Clark. Her Research Assistant is Gillian Connell, MSUP/HP ’10 Columbia University.
In a growing number of cities around the country, Neighborhood Conservation Districts (NCDs) are being established. They are located in neighborhoods with distinct physical character that do not necessarily merit historic district designation but warrant special land use attention. A central question for the project is: what lessons do the practices of other jurisdictions hold for New York City? Preliminary findings indicate that the emphasis NCDs place on neighborhood planning initiatives within a citywide context is both instructive and relevant. There are, however, formidable challenges in adapting the NCD approach to New York City.
Members of the project’s Advisory Committee include:
* Sandra P. Acosta, Principal, A & C Development Partners
* Richard C. Anderson, President, The New York Building Congress
* Laurie Beckelman, Principal, Beckelman & Capalino
* Eugenie L. Birch, Professor of City and Regional Planning, Graduate School of Design, University of Pennsylvania
* Robert S. Cook, Esq., Anderson, Kill & Olick, LLP
* Mark E. Ginsberg, FAIA, Partner, Curtis & Ginsberg Architects LLP,
2009 CHPC President
* Lucille L. McEwen, President and CEO, Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement
* Sherida E. Paulson, FAIA, 2009 President, AIA New York Chapter,
Principal, PSKB Architects LLP
* Jerilyn Perine, Executive Director, Citizens Housing & Planning Council
* Frank J. Sciame, Jr., Chair, Board of Directors, New York Landmarks Conservancy, Chairman & CEO, F. J. Sciame Construction Co. Inc.
* John Shapiro, Chair, Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, Pratt Institute
* Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Dean, Graduate School of Design, University of Pennsylvania
* William Traylor, President, Richman Housing Resources LLC
* Julia Vitullo-Martin, Senior Fellow, The Manhattan Institute
* Anthony C. Wood, Chairman, Steering Committee, Preservation Vision: NYC
* Funders of the project include the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s John E. Streb Preservation Fund for New York and the New York Community Trust.
Funders of the project include the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s John E. Streb Preservation Fund for New York and the New York Community Trust.
Useful links
Protecting Older Neighborhoods through Conservation District Programs, a booklet available for purchase from the National Trust for Historic Preservation
Directory of Neighborhood Conservation Departments in US Cities compiled by CHPC
Adam Lovelady, “Broadened Notions of Historic Preservation and the Role of Neighborhood Conservation Districts”, Urban Lawyer, Volume 40, Number 1, Winter 2008, 147. (See abstract or search for sources.)
Teardown Tools on the Web, a useful PDF containing tools to manage better teardowns, created by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Projects, Studies & Proposals, NYC Department of City Planning
The Campaign for Community-Based Planning, The Municipal Art Society of New York
Community Planning at the Pratt Center for Community Development
