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MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013
Vol. CXXIV, No. 106
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE CITY OF TACOMA Devoted to the Courts, Real Estate, Finance, Industrial Activities, and Publication of Legal Notices
Published Since 1890
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Tacoma considers plan to save neglected historic buildings from demolition
Posted online Fri., May 31 File Photo By Todd Matthews, Editor Tacoma City Council's Neighborhoods and Housing Committee will meet Monday at City Hall to discuss an initiative underway that aims to improve the City of Tacoma's enforcement codes in order to prevent "demolition by neglect" of historic properties throughout the city. According to a report prepared by city staff, Tacoma has many distressed properties, some of which are listed on the local and national registers of historic places, either individually or as contributing structures within listed historic districts. Long-term neglect of a historic building becomes very costly to abate, and can lead to the loss of the building. Ideally, intervention early in the cycle of decline is less costly, according to city staff, but existing enforcement codes, including Public Nuisances (Tacoma Municipal Code 8.30) and Minimum Buildings and Structures Code (TMC 2.01), provide few options for proactively abating substandard building conditions before they threaten the safety and longevity of a building. To address this issue, the City of Tacoma plans to explore the development of an ordinance to prevent "demolition by neglect," which is defined as the process whereby a property owner neglects a historic building until the only course of action feasible to abate the resulting hazards to public health and safety is to demolish the building. The city will also explore the possibility of creating an "emergency preservation fund" that could be used to help prevent the deterioration of Tacoma's iconic historic structures. Key elements of this proposal, according to the staff report, include applying the proposed ordinance to properties listed on the Tacoma Register of Historic Places, National Register of Historic Places, and to contributing properties within locally
Downtown Tacoma's Luzon Building, designed by famed Chicago architects John Wellborn Root and Daniel Hudson Burnham, and constructed in the 1890s, was demolished in 2009 after the City of Tacoma deemed the historically significant building a safety hazard for fear it would collapse after decades of neglect. The City of Tacoma is leading an initiative underway that aims to improve its enforcement codes in order to prevent "demolition by neglect" of historic properties throughout the city. and federally designated historic districts; addressing existing and commonly used maintenance standards, as well as maintenance standards to protect "character defining features" of historic buildings; providing specific penalties designed to prevent the
practice of accumulating violation fines as a "cost of doing business"; providing incentives to encourage owners of neglected properties to find new ownership; and providing means for the City of Tacoma to proactively abate conditions which threaten the existence of a building before it becomes "dangerous." Tacoma Historic Preservation Officer Reuben McKnight and Tacoma Interim Planning and Development Services Department Director Peter Huffman will provide an overview of the plan, its scope, and the potential strategies for addressing the issue to Tacoma City Council's Neighborhoods and Housing Committee during a meeting on Mon., June 3 at 4:30 p.m. in the Tacoma Municipal Building, 747 Market Street, Conference Room 248. A copy of the agenda is available online at cms.cityoftacoma.org/ cityclerk/Files/CouncilCommittees/Agendas/2013/ NHAgenda/NH_20130603.pdf.
Walk Tacoma series continues June 5 with immigrant history tour
Posted online Weds., May 29 Downtown On The Go will continue its Walk Tacoma series next week with a free walking tour that will highlight Tacoma’s immigrant history along a 1.6-mile walking route. The tour, which will be held on Weds., June 5 between noon and 1 p.m. and begin and end at the corner of South 11th Street and Broadway in front of the historic Woolworth Building, will
be led by Patsy Surh O’Connell, president and founder of the Asia Pacific Cultural Center. There is no need to pre-register for the event, which is sponsored by City Grocer IGA. Walk Tacoma is an eight-event walking series held on the first and third Wednesdays from April through August. The fun, themed walks, now in their fourth year, encourage downtown employees and residents to exercise and enjoy the out-
doors by discovering the different walking routes and parks in downtown Tacoma. The walks are scheduled at the lunch hour and just after work to encourage downtown employees to walk during their workday, whether it is to and from work, at a lunch break, or to a nearby meeting. More information is available online at downtownonthego.org.