BROOKINGS Residents worried about encroaching development closing in on historic neighborhoods made their voices heard at Tuesday nights Brookings City Council meeting and in doing so, succeeded in convincing councilors to approve beneficial changes.
Those changes focused on five revisions to the citys Future Land Use Map, which is part of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan that was adopted in 2018. The map is intended to be flexible and serve as a vision for the city, and the changes do not affect current zoning. Rather, they simply change guidance on what kind of housing would best fit into a historic area.
Its all looking at if change were to occur at what sort of density or land-use intensity would be supported with that vision, Community Development Director Mike Struck told the Brookings Register. As redevelopment is proposed, it really needs to focus on the compatibility, the form, the scale of the existing neighborhoods and make sure that it it doesnt have to match or be identical, but to blend in and make it feel like its a natural part of those neighborhoods.
Councilors agreed to the changes on a 7-0 vote after engaging in conversation and questions with Struck and hearing from audience members.
The map revisions were brought to the City Council by members of the Brookings Historic Preservation Commission, and focus on the University and Central residential historic districts, which stretch from Medary Avenue west to Fifth Avenue on both sides of Sixth Street.
BHPC Chair Matthew Weiss said the commission has heard from several residents who are concerned about development pressures that are taking place near the South Dakota State University campus.
People are worried that the same thing will happen along the historic district(s), he said. There are quite a few residents that have purchased houses in those historic districts because they want to live in a historic house and district for the beauty and charm that those old houses usually provide.
He said that nothing is really built to the same quality or the same character anymore.
Those people that choose to live in older homes are quite concerned that the same thing thats happening closer to campus may bleed into the districts that are sort of between campus and downtown.
That said, Weiss noted that its not just developments to the east along Sixth Street that drove the BHPC to bring its map revision proposals to the City Council. Another factor included structural removals within the districts because of neglect from absentee landlords, especially closer to campus.
Slowly theres removals happening each year, and quite a bit of it could be avoided, he said. Really, its just the culmination of two different things going on.
He wasnt alone in pushing for the changes, either, as councilors heard testimony from 10 or so residents, most of whom supported the BHPC.
Historic preservation is somewhat of a complicated subject with a variety of opinions, Weiss said. The goal is that the historic districts still maintain a presence in Brookings, specifically for those that are passing through it that somebody thats driving through can tell that the community does care about preserving the history, specifically with the houses that are still maintained on Sixth Street.
The outpouring of support impressed him as well.
Theres quite a lot of opinion in the city and its good to see that the residents are sort of starting to wake up towards the topic of historic preservation and be more vocal about it. Those that care are starting to be more actively engaged in the topics. It was encouraging to see so many residents show up in support of what we were doing.
Prior to casting her vote in favor of the changes, Councilor Holly Tilton Byrne praised the BHPC.
I think that the proposal that theyve put in front of us tonight is something thats very reasonable and helps to protect the integrity and the character of the districts that are historic in nature along Sixth Street.
She added, I think one of the great things about Brookings is that when you do drive through on Sixth Street along that major corridor, we arent just seeing the same thing over and over again. Theres a great mixture there of new development, new business, but also some beautiful historic homes and a couple of districts that weve intentionally set aside to be historic preservation districts.
Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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