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Chairman Plans To Leave Panel On Landmarks

Chairman Plans To Leave Panel On Landmarks
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November 11, 1988, Section B, Page 2Buy Reprints
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Gene A. Norman, the seemingly imperturbable center of some of the toughest building battles of the last five years, submitted his resignation yesterday as chairman of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The resignation, to take effect Jan. 1, will allow Mr. Norman to become president and chief executive officer of the Harlem International Trade Center Corporation, a public entity undertaking an ambitious development project at 125th Street and Lenox Avenue.

Mr. Norman said his successor had not been chosen. He has offered to remain on the commission as the Bronx representative for a few months after he steps down as its chairman.

Although his tenure has been marked by mighty struggles - over Broadway theaters, St. Bartholomew's Church, the Coty and Rizzoli Buildings, Bryant Park, the Beacon Theater and the membership and workings of the commission itself - Mr. Norman said that ''had it not been for the Harlem project, I'd still be here because I enjoy working here.''

''We have tackled some formidable problems and acquitted ourselves very responsibly,'' he said. Face to Face With Bulldozers

Too ardent for the taste of some developers and too plodding for the taste of some preservationists, the 53-year-old Mr. Norman seemed to take criticism largely in stride.

He maintained a methodical, deliberate and undemonstrative style through the most contentious encounters -even when facing down bulldozers during the aborted demolition of an abandoned trolley terminal in Woodside, Queens.

In public hearings, he was courtly and soft-spoken, scrupulous in pausing to make sure that applicants and spectators understood the process they were witnessing. ''What we do has a lasting effect on people's personal property,'' Mr. Norman said. ''Often, we get very unsophisticated applicants. This is their first brush with government, and I try to make that as gentle as possible.''

''He has balanced the esthetic with the practical in a marvelous way,'' said Lawrence P. Goldman, a vice president of Carnegie Hall, who was taken aback to learn of the resignation during a meeting with Mr. Norman yesterday morning.

Charles A. Platt, chairman of the preservation committee of the Municipal Art Society, said: ''Gene will be hard to replace. He is an amazingly even-handed and wise person who has grown enormously in the position, although he was someone of considerable stature to begin with.'' 'The Respect of the Industry'

The president of the Real Estate Board of New York, Steven Spinola, said: ''I believe Gene had the respect and continues to have the respect of the industry in terms of his own integrity during years when he couldn't even get a quorum sometimes. It was amazing what he was able to accomplish.''

Having said that, Mr. Spinola also expressed disappointment that more was not done to advance a uniform set of standards and criteria to govern the commission's proceedings.

An initiative begun last summer to change the ways the commission designates properties, which was generally supported by the Real Estate Board but deeply opposed by the city's preservation community, seems to have been shelved. ''Those ideas need more work,'' Mr. Norman said yesterday.

''But underlying those ideas,'' he said, ''is the need to find ways to protect buildings earlier and the need to establish time limits under which the commission would work. Given adequate staff and resources, I see no reason why the commission could not operate under time limits in making designations.'' Koch's 'Cheerleading' Is Praised

Among his accomplishments, Mr. Norman cited an addition of some 20 people to the commission's staff (bringing its head count to about 60) and the move to larger, more usable and far more habitable quarters at 225 Broadway.

He said that Mayor Koch had offered ''a lot of support'' to the commission. ''You'll recall his cheerleading for the Broadway theater designations at the Board of Estimate,'' Mr. Norman said. ''That was a high point.'' Mr. Norman will leave with some regrets. ''The work we've done in the other boroughs should have been more, quite frankly,'' he said. ''We were distracted - that may be the kind word -by things happening in Manhattan.''

He also regretted the bitter, year-long fight over the removal of Anthony M. Tung as a member of the commission and the fact that, ''despite gains, we still have not found ways to get on faster with what we have to do.''

Private preservationists criticized Mr. Norman because the pace of landmark designation had slowed under his chairmanship. He responded that special circumstances had interfered and that such prospective designations as the Ladies' Mile Historic District would add considerably to the totals credited to him, with more than 400 buildings along Broadway, Fifth Avenue, the Avenue of the Americas and the side streets between Union Square and Madison Square. Mr. Norman said yesterday that the Ladies' Mile designation might occur as early as next month.

The Trade Center Corporation is a subsidiary of the Harlem Urban Development Corporation, where Mr. Norman was executive vice president before he was named to the landmarks post in 1983. In his new position, he will make $110,000 a year. His salary as chairman has been $92,000.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 2 of the National edition with the headline: Chairman Plans To Leave Panel On Landmarks. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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