Holding off on tax-break decision gives time to revamp program

By Ray Gronberg

gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648

DURHAM -- City Council members voted 6-0 Monday night to postpone until May a decision on whether to designate six buildings as tax-break-eligible historic landmarks.

The delay is supposed to buy time for city/county planners to come up with potential changes to the landmark program that could tighten eligibility requirements facing property owners.

City Manager Tom Bonfield said it's possible the effort could take longer than six months, as there's "quite a bit of staff work" facing officials in the City/County Planning Department.

Council members signaled their intention to postpone debate on the applications before giving preservationists and downtown business leaders a chance during Monday night's meeting to speak on the idea.

Once they did, it became apparent the move had opposition. Critics said the council shouldn't back away from a well-considered policy that has helped draw investment into troubled neighborhoods.

Even downtown, "it's obvious that historic preservation has been the driving tool for economic development in this community," said John Compton, executive director of Preservation Durham.

Another critic, Gary Kueber of Scientific Properties, noted that landmark-driven property tax breaks helped make his employer's renovation of the Golden Belt business center on East Main Street possible.

Given that city officials tout the Golden Belt project as one of the signature efforts in the comeback of downtown and North-East Central Durham, it's "not consistent in my mind to damage the programs that have made [that] success possible," Kueber said.

The delay came after council members and County Commissioners alike raised questions like month about the program, which gives owners of council-approved landmarks a 50 percent break on their property taxes.

For both board, the worries about the program are financial. The six pending applications would cost the two governments a combined $41,902 in revenue each year.

Some officials fret that given how many old homes still exist in Durham, the revenue loses could mount as more people take advantage of the program.

But Compton noted that being a landmark isn't all benefit for a building's owner. The label in addition to a tax break means giving up some future redevelopment rights, and submitting plans for exterior renovations to a veto-wielding city/county Historic Preservation Commission.

City Councilmen Mike Woodard and Howard Clement, who were among those who questioned the program last month, both said Monday they don't want to end it.

Woodard agreed with preservationists that it's likely tax-break fueled repairs to some properties have actually boosted the local tax base. But he said he wants to see documentation of that, perhaps even as part of the process for reviewing applications.

He also said the city's Office of Economic and Workforce Development perhaps deserves a role in the review process.

The full council Monday. The vote went in the books as a 6-0 because Councilman Farad Ali abstained. Ali is co-owner of a house on North Mangum Street that's on one of the pending applications.