Some Greeley property owners missed a huge opportunity — and $16.6 million in tax credits — after the City Council voted down a proposal Tuesday night to create a historic district near the University of Northern Colorado campus, a city councilwoman said.
“It just didn’t make sense to me,” said Councilwoman Pam Shaddock, who cast the only vote for the Cranford Historic District.
The final tally was 5-1 and ended, for now, a two-year struggle to have an area between 16th and 20th streets and 11th and 14th avenues designated a historic area.
Shaddock said more than 300 properties in the district could have been eligible for $50,000 each in tax credits for maintenance or in upgrades to meet historic district standards.
“It was just a great opportunity for that area, and it deserves to be preserved,” she said.
But other council members were swayed by attorney Curtis Sears, hired by several property owners in the proposed district, who argued the boundaries of the district were ill-defined. Single-family and multi-family homes in the district’s neighborhoods would have been generally lumped together to form the district.
“It just didn’t result in a unified and cohesive neighborhood,” Sears said.
Homeowner Brad Swift opposed the historic district because it could impose building and design restrictions on homeowners who did not want to participate.
“It basically could strip us of our property rights and use tax dollars to do it,” Swift said. “We’ve got people fighting in other countries so we could remain free, and this clearly violates that.”
Proponents of the district argued only homes built between 1895 and 1959 would be covered by district design rules.
If structures had been largely altered over the years, they also would not have to adhere to the new rules.
A new historic district ordinance has been drafted that requires the consent of a majority of homeowners in a neighborhood to form a district.
Shaddock hopes proponents of the district try again.
“I hope so,” said Shaddock, “but it might be tougher for them the next time around.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
