NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – With two historic districts filled with houses and businesses, New Smyrna Beach city officials are looking to revamp the ordinance and regulations to keep the history alive. The proposed changes have been met by opposing residents, though, who called it an overreach.
“The people in this area are going to take care of their houses,” said resident Curtis Hodges, “Everyone seems to be remodeling the houses, keep them beautiful, take good care of them but at the end of the day, they just don’t want the government overreach.”
Hodges has been taking the lead, making signs, and speaking out against the city’s proposed changes to the historic district ordinances. He said he feels the residents in these homes take more pride in revamping the houses than the city is giving them credit for.
“It would make it more like an HOA every time someone reaches over the fence and tries to tell you what to do,” he said.
The city is looking to make five updates to the current ordinance. The biggest impact would come from changing its two “nationally” designated historic districts into “local” historic districts.
That change would ultimately be up to a vote by the districts’ residents, but the city is also proposing a change in the voting style. In the past, two-thirds of the residents would have to be in favor of making it a local historic district but if this change in the ordinance passes, only 50% would have to agree.
“There’s people who understand and believe that requiring the maintenance of these historic properties bring value to the community not only from an aesthetic standpoint but from an economic development standpoint,” said assistant city manager Rob Neibert.
Neibert told News 6 that changing the designation to local could come with grants for renovations and tax exemptions but it would also come with more building and demolition regulations, and the city’s historic commission would have to approve changes made to the home.
The city has another workshop scheduled in January to debate this.
“The commission now is just garnering public input on their interest in making these changes to the ordinances,” said Neibert.
Hodges said he sees the concern about buyers coming in and demolishing homes but doesn’t see it happening too often.
“There’s a few of them that had to be torn down, but they were in disarray with termites and whatever but most of the people take good care of them and fix them back up,” he said.
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