Michelle Dodds, city of Phoenix historic-preservation officer, hopes to make people aware of the history within their community, from the post-World War II properties to the pre-1920 residential areas.
“These historic buildings give Phoenix a unique character,” Dodds said. “If you don’t protect these resources, it’ll look like any other city.”
On Tuesday, Dodds presented a draft of PreserveHistoricPHX, a government plan to protect resources, preserve incentives, develop community awareness and promote city partnerships, to the city of Phoenix Planning Commission.
She explained how the plan takes the reader through an extensive background of historic preservation, with goals and actions that follow the information.
Nine village planning committees chose to review the material, and the Historic Preservation Committee received recommendations of approval from Desert View Village and the Alhambra Village, Dodds said.
Planning for PreserveHistoricPHX started in the beginning of the year, and the city of Phoenix’s Historic Preservation Office opened four public meetings in the spring to hear citizen comments.
Participants who attended the meetings emphasized interest in preserving properties from statehood to the Great Depression, the Great Depression to the World War II period, and the postwar expansion — that is, 1945 to 1975 — according to the PreserveHistoricPHX draft.
Erika Finbraaten, city of Phoenix historic-preservation planner, said a plethora of support for historic preservation existed within the community.
“People give us their opinion, which is a critical part of any plan,” Finbraaten said. “It tells us where we need to focus our time and how to make sure we’re heading in the right direction.”
She said that for every five people that move to Phoenix, roughly three people leave. Therefore, it is more essential for people to see the importance of historic preservation because of the influx of Phoenix’s population.
PreserveHistoricPHX has various environmental, economic, social and cultural benefits for the community, according to the draft. It is modeled after PlanPHX, a plan that helps citizens and the government change the future of the city for the benefit of the community, because it is a “subset of that plan,” Dodds said.
The city of Phoenix’s Historic Preservation Commission hopes to present PreserveHistoricPHX to the City Council for adoption by Dec. 17.
The Historic Preservation Commission has nine members, including an archaeologist, historian, registered architect and a real estate professional.
Thomas Jones, archaeologist and chair of the commission, said his job is to ensure that the preservation office is paying attention to the cultural remains that people generally don’t notice: the infrastructure.
“It’s great that we can educate the public on how important historic preservation is,” Jones said. “These historic places rose out of the ashes, quite poetically and literally.”
Jones said one additional goal is to make preservation more proactive as opposed to reactionary, such as when demolition may occur.
The next meeting involving PreserveHistoricPHX will be held Sept. 15, and comments from the public will close Sept. 21. People can comment in person and by phone or email, with contact information found on the city of Phoenix website. The 122-page PDF document of the draft can also be found on the city’s website.
Contact the reporter at Samantha.Incorvaia@asu.edu
