By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
Katharine “Kitty” Robinson, executive director of the 62-year-old Historic Charleston Foundation, gave Salisburians insights Thursday into how they might develop a future preservation plan.
Thursday night, Robinson was guest speaker at the Andrew Jackson Society’s 20th anniversary event at the Salisbury Station.
But earlier in the day, she met with a Salisbury group including city planners, neighborhood leaders, conservation officials and her hosts, Historic Salisbury Foundation board members and staff.
The roundtable discussion also included Salisbury Mayor Susan Kluttz.
In the afternoon meeting, Robinson reviewed Historic Charleston’s efforts at writing a new preservation plan to replace one fashioned in 1974.
The Charleston City Council adopted the new preservation plan in August 2008.
“The plan is not a law, it is truly a plan,” Robinson said. “But now we have a road map.”
When the 1974 plan was written, Charleston was 18 square miles. Now the city covers 100 square miles and faces continual development pressures.
“We all knew Charleston had to stay Charleston,” Robinson said of the steering committee that initiated the effort. “… I think we had the right people at the table.”
Historic Charleston Foundation worked hand-in-hand with city leaders and staff in co-producing a plan, which generated considerable interest among the Salisbury group Thursday afternoon.
The Charleston steering committee, which has now become an implementation committee, hired an outside consultant, Page and Turnbull of San Francisco, and paid it $150,000.
The cost was divided between Historic Charleston Foundation and the city.
“They rose to the top because of their graphics,” Robinson recalled. “They put up the right material and spoke the right language.”
Robinson said Page and Turnbull plans a “Southeast marketing tour,” and she suggested that it may be worth inviting the firm to Salisbury for a visit.
“We learned so much from their national expertise,” Robinson said.
During development of the preservation plan, the city and foundation held seven community meetings, listened to 11 focus groups, had 500 citizen participants and received 1,500 public comments and recommendations.
The plan will have an impact on more than 100,000 people, Robinson said, explaining that historic preservation in Charleston can no longer just be about the core of the city but has to expand into many other neighborhoods, even those that might only be 50 to 75 years old but need protection, too.
A preservation plan also addresses elements such as sustainability, rural preservation, housing affordability, infill construction, disaster preparedness and archaeology.
The committee’s first implementation step with the preservation plan has been to conduct ACAs ó Area Character Appraisals, which identify the individual importance of different neighborhoods.
With education, Charleston will look to expand its number of historic districts which fall under the guidelines of its Board of Architectural Review, similar to the Salisbury Historic Preservation Commission.
Kluttz, the Salisbury mayor, said her colleagues in city government know the importance of historic preservation and realize that planning is always the key. She said she looked forward to taking Robinson’s information back to other City Council members and staff.
Leading Salisbury preservationist Ed Clement said groups such as Historic Salisbury Foundation can always learn from other organizations, especially leaders in the field such as Charleston.
“Kitty has one of the most comprehensive preservation programs in the country,” he said.
Clement suggested that a preservation plan for Salisbury also look at the city’s surroundings ó its setting, so to speak. At the roundtable discussion, some concerns were raised about melding a city preservation plan with a rural preservation plan for other parts of Rowan County.
But Jason Walser, executive director of the LandTrust for Central North Carolina, said people would be surprised at how much people throughout Rowan County believe in historic preservation and how they might get behind a plan, if the right words are used.
He sees and hears an enthusiasm for preservation routinely, from Landis to China Grove to Mount Ulla, Walser said.
“There’s a lot to be said for language and how it’s used,” Robinson agreed