Historical June 1976 dialogue between Sue Tepas and Jo Ann Vatcha about a proposal; not a statement of current regulations.
The controversy arising over the Historic District led to the following dialogue between Sue Tepas, chairman of the SDCC Historic District Committee, and resident Jo Ann Vatcha. We hope it will answer some of your questions.
Q. What does the rezoning mean in terms of Des Peres?
A. It would be rezoned “A” Residential, (with the exception of the originally commercial buildings at Kingsbury and at Pershing) which includes non-profit groups and residences, but not commercial use, such as gas stations. Also; the one-story, small apartment buildings would, if they were not a commercially viable enterprise and were abandoned, revert to residential usage. So they would probably be torn down and the lot could not be used for commercial purposes.
Q. What kinds of commercial development will be discouraged by becoming a Historic District?
A. Zoning would affect that, too. What is suggested is local businesses, instead of regional businesses, serving the needs of the immediate area. As is suggested in the Proposal, zoning on Delmar would be changed from “G” to “F”, which means: local business, multifamily dwellings, hotels, private clubs. lodges restaurants, theatres and other offices, and retail stores.
Q. Similar to the type of commercial along Delmar into U. City?
A. Yes, very similar to the Loop area or the Euclid-McPherson area in the Central West End. Small local business, that would serve many people, but would primarily be supported by local residents.
Q. Do you have any data on what has happened in other Historic Districts as far as new commercial enterprises?
A. I cannot give hard data, I can tell you what I have talked about with people from other Historic Districts. They have found a better classes of commercial enterprises coming into the area for reasons of stability. Maybe a small store that they need and want, and had been talking to for a long time, didn’t really know whether they wanted to come in because they didn’t know what would happen across from them, next to. them and so forth, agreed that there was a need and they could probably sell things, but might turn away good customers because they had something really bad beside them.
Q. Have there been any effects in the Euclid area in the West End that can be attributed to the Historic District?
A. They have’ been able to attract business people, even in the wake of Saks and Montaldo’s moving out. The Parafunalley. group and others never would have moved had it not been stable area that was controlled by an Historic District.
Q. There were at large number of established businesses already there.
A. True, but there has been a lot of turnover. They have been able to recruit without getting a lower type business. They are not getting junk stores, etc. They are usually getting small business people who are interested in coming in and working long hours, and developing a clientele.
Q. But they still don’t have a grocery store.
A. I know, nobody has a grocery store, But that, of course, is part of a plan for the DeBaliviere area in the future., which will serve both the Central West End and Skinker-DeBaliviere. One of the good fact about our commercial district is that it is rather stagnant. It was a stable neighborhood for so long, and it has only been about 20 years that there has been a continually changing population movement. And the problem of the West End Urban Renewal, if that had gone through when it was supposed to, there would have been a new stable population in there, and a lot of people waited for that, and therefore there has been less modernization of those original buildings, which were streetcar shopper areas, where riders changed cars; there were little shops where people would stop and shop. So there are many small stores which are appropriate for development. And many people would be willing to do something were they assured that they would not get something like a Methodone Center or a Job Corps Center next to them.
Q. It seems to me that once the Redevelopment of the DeBaliviere Area is underway, it should have a tremendous effect on Delmar, becuase new businesses which might want to get close to, if not in the middle of, the Redevelopment area, might want to locate there. Of couse, this will make it difficult for us to determine in the future if Delmar does undergo a change for the better, whether it was due to the Historic District or the Redevelopmetn, or both.
A. One thing the committee did discuss, was whether to include the commercial area at all; then we planned to include only the south side of Delmar, that being the obvioud dividing line for our (Rosedale Neighborhood) Historic District. Then we talked with planners at CDA; who informed us that it would be difficult to get people to participate on the south if nobody has to comply on the north side. In addition, the area north of Delmar, from DesPeres to Skinker, is not included in any neighborhood organization, and therefore needs some controls. The Historic District will include the north side of Delmar up to the alley. The south side of Enright, 6000 and 6100 blocks not included in Historic District, is almost totally empty and seems to be owned mostly by businesses who are on Delmar, with the exception of a building housing an architechtural firm., which presents a great possibility for off-street parking.
Q. What alternatives are open to someone who needs to remove or repair a deteriorated front porch?
A. It would seem that if you don’t want your porch, the alternative would be to take it off and do whatever is necessary to repair the front of the house, becuase usually porch roofs leave some kind of mark on the brick. If you wanted to replace it, you could try to reconstruct it. Usually one of the problems in doing this is materials that have deteriorated beyond use, and replacement is difficult. One of the things that has been discussed and planned for, would be some kind of a storage and exchange center, run by the Historic District or the neighborhood association, whereby people who did not want a front porch would take those parts which were still good and they would go into a collective center, and whereby people who wanted to repalce the porch (or whatever) could obtain these items which would be matching or at least appropriate. There is a lumber mill in the City of St. Louis which will redo, -individually, anything that you want, but that gets to be very expensive, so if we could recycle the materials, it would be more desirable.
Q. It seems the provision pertaining to exterior materials, which would include the porches, is not very clear. The impression is that the porch would have to be replaced as it was, that the owner had no choice, which could be very expensive. Therefore, this should, perhaps be rewritten in order to avoid confusion or misinterpretation.
A. I would think that there might be a problem, if the porch had been full size heavy stone plus marble, tile roof type of porch, it would be very difficult to remove that without damaging the appearance, and design of the house, because it is part of the total original design, whereas the wooden porches are definitely “attached”. The Landmarks Urban Design Commission has proven to be very reasonable in Historic Districts in the past.
Q. Where, in the proposal, it states, “Renovations should not alter any existing window or door opening, or remove any columns, pediments, dormers, porches, bay windows or other important architectural features, unless they are badly deteriorated, or unless the new design is compatible in scale, material and color with existing features of the building and with adjacent historical structure.” Is this an “either/or” proposition?
A. Yes, probably we should include another sentence to clarify this also.
Q. Why are restrictions on storm windows included in the proposal?
A. Storm windows are included because when we started working on this as a Rosedale Committee it was 1974, the height of the energy crises and most poeple felt storm windows were a good” and necessary investment. Some architectural features are somewhat altered by storm windows and therefore the storm windows become architectural features.
Q. There has been some discussion about the difficulty painting the alumninum storm windows, some say it cannot be done, others say it is very difficult and does not las long.
A. There is a new paint available, an epoxy type which may solve that problem. Also, there will be an Histortc District review committee, a standing committee of SDCC whose job it will be to help people solve such problems. They will spend time finding out what materials are available and where etc. They will also occassionally, be able to expedite permits when it is necessary.
Q. Do you think the benefits of becoming a Historic District are worth the imposition of another bureaucracy upon ourselves? That is, the whole process of having to have work on your home approved by going thru Landmark and Urban Design Commission to get a permit…another layer of government to wade through?
A. Most of it exists now. One must have a guilding permit to do these projects on one’s home anyway, with or without a Historic District. •
We hope this discussion has you thinking about the proposed Historic District. If you have further questions or suggestions, please contact your SDCC represetative or a member of the Historic District Committee.
The Skinker-DeBaliviere Historic District Committee:
Karen Bynum
Jack Flynn
Steve Hack
Joyce Hancock
Venita Lake
Judy Little
Mike Magrath
Bob Newsham
Mike Pyatok
Dan Schesch
Council Smith
Ed Stout
Gee Stuart (retired 24-76)
Sue Tepas, Chairperson
Originally published in The Paper, June 1976.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: Apparent printed errors such as “at large number,” “a better classes,” “Methodone,” “redevelopmetn,” “alumninum,” and “guilding permit” retained.
Original source: SD_Times1976_06.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 7.
