Preservation With Permission: Rethinking Homeowner Consent In Historic District Designations

Abstract

Homeowners across the country are facing a severe challenge to their ability to use their own property freely: historic district designation. Each state has its own standard for historic district designation. States typically grant local governments within jurisdictional boundaries the power to designate historic districts, so long as the basic guidelines set forth by the state are followed. In Texas, like many other jurisdictions, a historic district overlay can be placed on a property by the local government, even if the property owner is adamantly against the designation. This Comment addresses the issues with historic district designation without property owner consent and proposes that the Texas legislature adopt the designation standard used in Houston, which allows property owners to vote for or against their neighborhood becoming a historic district. This historic district designation standard gives power back to the people who are directly impacted by the historic district designation the most.

Keywords: Historic Districts, Historic District Designations, Texas Historic Districts, Texas, Texas Historic District Designation, Houston Historic District, Houston, Houston Historic Properties, Historic Homes, Historic Properties, Texas Historic Properties, Historic Preservation Law, Historic Preservation, Historic Preservation Board, Historic District Designation Standard