Landmarks Preservation Commission - Preservation Racine .org

Landmarks Preservation Commission Disbanded

Last month (December 2019), the Landmarks Preservation Commission was suddenly notified that it had ceased to exist. If we care about anything more than the passing moment, we must protect our architectural heritage. It is what keeps a community stable, gives it identity, and helps protect it from distopia. Plans to raze Janes School have just been announced and there is now no official body even to try to save it. Here is this month’s Community Article by our president, Steven Rogstad.

Here is a follow-up article in the Journal Times today (Tuesday, January 7, 2019)

A new ordinance was established at a special meeting of the Common Council on November 12, 2019. It amends three chapters of the Municpal Code of the City of Racine, and the amendments are listed here: Ordinance 0026-19 – Ch. 2 Ch. 58 Ch. 114 Planning Heritage and Design Commission 2019-11-08. It dissolves the Landmarks Preservation Commission along with several other commissions in order to create smaller commissions whose members are appointed solely by the Mayor. Although most of the content is committee name changes, the significant parts concerning the Landmarks Preservation Commission are on page 1 (part 2), page 4-5 (part 33), and page 5 (part 36).

If you want to make sense of the changes, you need to compare the old and new versions. Here is the City’s Municipal Code, which is very slow but will compare versions. Here are screenshots of some important parts: