Dallas architect says Lakewood residents are right to seek the protection of a conservation district.
A sign posted in favor of the Lakewood Conservation District Expansion outside of a home on Tokalon Drive on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Dallas.Lately a battle of words has raged on the streets of Lakewood and in the pages of this newspaper, as well as other journals.
I have lived in the nearby Hollywood-Santa Monica Conservation District since before the district’s creation in 1993. As an architect whose practice is immersed in working with historic districts, conservation districts and a wide variety of similar regulatory and incentive programs across the country, I have been concerned to see a distorted picture of these programs emerge, especially where Lakewood is concerned.Our city’s conservation district program is a good one.
They protect these qualities by documenting them for all to see and understand. They also provide for ongoing protection through detailed, often illustrated, guidelines. “Guidelines and guardrails” is how I typically describe them. The guidelines to show you how, and the guardrails to protect against design ideas that ignore or work against the neighborhood’s character. As an architect working in such districts, I have found plenty of design latitude between those guardrails.
In keeping with the finest traditions of American democracy, the conservation district creation process requires opportunities for public discussion, spirited public debate, and negotiation among those who are impacted. It’s about the residents, so city staff has no business “shutting down” this process, as has been suggested. It is disappointing that some seem to find the exercise of our democratic process inconvenient.
I have also seen it suggested that neighborhood evolution and development should be driven by “the market.” The free market is a time-honored, cherished American institution, representing the creation and preservation of wealth for generations. Market forces are an important aspect of the American way of life. Understand, however, that the market can’t be left alone, unsupervised, with all of your valuables. The market cares exclusively about its own, narrowly defined interests and nothing else.
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