While other towns watch homeowners tear down older homes to build more modern structures, Downers Grove village officials are hoping they can help residents keep neighborhoods of more historic homes intact.
Under an ordinance drafted by village attorney Daniel Blondin, a group of residents could approach the village and petition to designate their neighborhood a ”conservation district.” The plan would allow residents to work with village officials to set the requirements for the district and later set up a preservation district.
”This way, each district would be different,” Blondin said last week.
”One district might require architecture with all English Tudor-style houses or all painted ladies, and another might require all lots to remain heavily wooded. Another might prohibit tear-downs or the use of certain materials. It`s really up to the residents.”
Some Downers Grove real estate agents have told village manager Kurt Bressner the ordinance might make some properties difficult to sell, but Blondin said the concerns were groundless.
The ordinance wouldn`t allow any group to railroad individual property owners to conform, the village attorney said. That`s because the plan requires 75 percent of an area`s homeowners to petition for conservation district status before officials will consider it, Blondin said.
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There are currently no areas in the village that are considered conservation or preservation districts, Blondin said, although the village imposes an appearance code on buildings in the central business district.