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CITY COUNCIL GETS LANDMARKS BILL; Preservation of Historical Places in City Is Aim

CITY COUNCIL GETS LANDMARKS BILL; Preservation of Historical Places in City Is Aim
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October 7, 1964, Page 49Buy Reprints
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A bill to preserve the city's architectural heritage was introduced into the City Council yesterday amid a chorus of approval from architects and historians and expressions of misgiving by some of those who would be required to carry out its terms.

“I have a feeling that this will create an uproar,” one source close to the City Council) declared. “Everybody likes the idea of preserving historic landmarks, but the question is how to do it. The procedures in here are pretty rough,

“If the Council irons all this out, you won't recognize the bill.”

The bill would set up an 11man Landmarks Preservation Commission with the power to designate buildings worthy of preservation because of their architectural value, landmark districts and historic districts.

The owners of buildings considered to be landmarks or buildings in an area designated as historic would not be able to alter or demolish them without the approval of the commission. The designations would require a public hearing.

The bill includes a number of safeguards for owners of historic buildings who might suffer financial injury as a result of the commission's deciding that a building's esthetic or historic value was a matter of public interest.

Owners who could establish inability to earn a reasonable return on their property—6 per cent of assessed valuation plus 2 per cent depreciation, as in the rent law—could apply to the commission for relief. The commission then would devise a “plan” for the building, which might include either tax exemption or tax remission.

The Board of Estimate must approve any plan that is adopted.

“Under this bill, if the owner can't make a deal with Landmarks, the city will have to condemn,” the worried city official declared. “We'll end up owning them all. I don't know what the reaction from the real estate community will be.”

But the real estate community did not have much to say yesterday. A spokesman for the Real Estate Board declined comment until a committee had had the opportunity to study the text of the measure.

However, the industry generally has traditionally opposed any efforts to extend tax exemptions on the ground that they resulted in tax increases for all other property owners.

Despite concern over operational details many city lawmakers and administrators indicated approval of an effort to preserve a record of the city's architectural heritage. Those who voiced doubts did so in temperate language.

Councilman Robert A. Low of Manhattan questioned the ad‐ visabilty of “injecting” the Board of Estimate into the bill's tax exemption process. Mr. Low favors strengthening the Council's powers.

David Ross of the Bronx, the majority leader, declared that “any bill of this magnitude will require a multitude of changes.”

“The public is going to be heard from,” he said.

The bipartisan bill was introduced by Councilmen Low, Seymour Boyers and Richard S. Aldrich. It was prepared under the direction of the Landmarks Preservation Commission appointed by Mayor Wagner. James Grote Van Derpool is the executive director of the group.

As of yesterday, the commission had selected 4,423 landmarks that it considers worthy of preservation. Of these 759 [are , individual structures. A Greenwich Village historic district would add 2,067 more and a Brooklyn Heights district 1,192 more.

A cast iron district in the vicinity of Greene Street and Broadway would add 50 more landmarks.

William Ballard, chairman of the City Planning Commission; Henry Hope Reed, who conducts the walking tours of the Museum of the City of New York, and Edward Durell Stone were among the architects and historians who expressed pleasure at the introduction of the bill.

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