After voting unanimously in April to increase the stay of demolition on historic buildings for up to nine months, City Council's Planning Committee approved another bill to do the exact opposite Monday evening.
A bill City Council passed in May on a 15-9 vote extended the stay of demolition for structures deemed historic from 90 days up to 270 days. But many had immediate "buyer's remorse" after voting in favor of the bill.
"I think we fixed something that wasn't broken," said Councilman Andy Richardson, who sits on the Planning Committee.
He added that the recently passed bill gives the city's Historic Landmarks Commission the power to grant two additional 90-day demolition stays, but doesn't list any criteria the commission can refer to before it decides to grant them.
The Planning Department received several letters from people in opposition to the 270-day stay, including former mayor Jay Goldman and City Council's Finance Committee Chairman Bobby Reishman, who argued that requiring owners to wait nine months to demolish a property will jeopardize new developments in the city.
"If someone gets a loan to develop a property...the interest rates might change, the bank's terms and expectations might change, all kinds of things can happen," Richardson said. "I'm all for preserving our history, but at the end of the day, I don't think we have the luxury of choking off development."
Richardson said he researched the length of demolition stays in other cities around the U.S., including Quincy, Massachusetts, which was first settled in the 17th century and has a "heck of a lot more history" than Charleston.
He pointed out that Quincy's maximum stay of demolition for historic structures is 180 days - three months less than what Charleston's City Council approved in May.
City Council President Tom Lane, who introduced the original bill extending the stay of demolition, said that part of the problem is that Charleston lacks an active, privately held historic preservation group that can step up and communicate with developers about alternatives to demolition during the 90-day period.
Committee members Mary Beth Hoover and Jerry Ware were apprehensive about reversing the demolition stay back to 90 days, but ultimately voted in favor of the bill.
"There's so many buildings that have been lost in this city that it's heartbreaking," Hoover said. "What are we gonna leave when we're gone?"
While the committee voted in favor of the bill, several members agreed to attend the next Historic Landmarks Commission meeting to discuss the need to develop future criteria for additional 90-day stays that it can refer to if a similar bill is introduced in the future.
"Then, if we want to make it more than that, they'll have the criteria," Councilwoman Becky Ceperly said.
Also on Monday, Planning Committee voted in favor of a bill on behalf of the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston to amend the city's zoning ordinance to rezone Sacred Heart Grade School and the Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart from a residential office district to a central business district.
The zoning change will make those properties, located at 1035 Quarrier St. and 1114 Virginia St. East, respectively, consistent with the rest of the church's properties located west of Leon Sullivan Way.
City Planning Director Dan Vriendt said the zoning change is in tandem with Charleston's comprehensive plan.
Both bills will go to City Council for a final vote.
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.