District 10 - Marc Duchen
What is your favorite historic place in your district and why?
Lion's Municipal Golf Course
The City of Austin will soon adopt a new Equity-Based Historic Preservation Plan to replace Austin’s 1981 historic preservation plan with an inclusive, community-oriented process and outcome. Its proposed policies, programs, and tools will help the City Council, Historic Landmark Commission, City departments, and partners address challenges and support thriving communities. The plan is set to be adopted by Council later this year, and its future success will rely on buy-in from Council to execute its recommendations.
If elected, would you support the plan’s recommended policy changes and budget allocations to ensure that the future of preservation in Austin is proactive, collaborative, and accessible to all? Please explain.
YES
The updated Equity Plan now includes more minority representation in both process and outcomes. A number of the recommendations appear to be low cost but potentially high benefit, such as changing historic landmark requirements, better training/onboarding, more city department collaboration, and so on.
Research shows that older, smaller homes are more naturally affordable for renters and owners than new construction. Last year, Preservation Austin, Austin Infill Coalition, and AIA Austin partnered on a new Preservation Bonus that was adopted as a part of HOME Phase 1. The bonus exchanges increased development entitlements for preserving single-family homes built before 1961. Research conducted by Cedar shows that expanding entitlements for Preservation Bonus projects to include increased impervious cover and an additional developable unit can generate 10x as many housing units as the current bonus allows (see report HERE).
If elected, would you support increasing entitlements for Preservation Bonus projects to maximize the effectiveness of the bonus, preserve existing housing, and support sustainability and affordability goals? Why or why not?
YES
My understanding is that historic homes don't count towards impervious cover on property. If we're going to be advocates for preserving what is there and retaining what is the fabric of our central Austin neighborhoods then there need to be incentives to help developers achieve their goals to preserve existing homes. Ideally we can work together for a compromise where developers and homeowners don't pay a penalty for preservation but have an incentive to pursue it.
Historic resource surveys inventory historic neighborhoods and make recommendations for buildings and districts that are eligible for historic designation. Accurate and up-to-date surveys enable City staff, elected officials, and citizens alike to make decisions about which properties and neighborhoods ought to be protected. For example, in 2020 the Rogers-Washington-Holy Cross neighborhood successfully became Austin's first local historic district dedicated exclusively to Black heritage. This effort relied on data gathered in the 2016 East Austin Historic Resource Survey to define the district's boundaries and identify contributing structures. Without the 2016 survey, this historic district may not have been possible.
If elected, will you support continued funding for surveys and the City’s preservation office? Will you honor the findings of these surveys by supporting historic zoning for individual landmarks and districts? Please explain your answer.
YES
My goal is to ensure we have an appropriate return on our investment for sponsoring neighborhood surveys. Being good stewards of our tax dollars does not come at the expense of important community related expenses like surveys. Some landmark cases are complex for their community and stakeholders if determining whether the property or district is truly historic. I can see an important role for surveys to help tease out nuances to make determinations.
We know based on our research that between 2010 and the end of 2021, finalized residential demolitions per year rose from 271 to 622, an increase of 130%. These older buildings are often constructed with more sustainable materials than new buildings and provide more affordable housing than new construction. Rehabilitation rather than demolition of existing structures also reduces waste and is more sustainable. In 2020, construction and demolition debris accounted for approximately 25% of all waste produced in Travis County's three municipal solid waste landfills. Cities such as San Antonio and Portland have adopted deconstruction ordinances to slow demolitions and divert landfill waste.
If elected, would you support policy solutions that encourage sustainable building practices via preservation? How do you think our community can embrace this as part of our efforts to create a more sustainable and equitable Austin?
YES
We can look to Portland, San Antonio, and local groups that have made progress on deconstruction, and look to how to incentivize or expand local deconstruction efforts. We need to learn more about the economics of expanding deconstruction to residential and smaller lots to understand if there is an economical way to approach demolitions there.
Many Texas cities establish historic districts to protect their heritage by preventing demolitions and ensuring new construction is compatible with surrounding historic buildings. Dallas has 21 districts, Houston has 19, and San Antonio has 27, while Austin has only 8. The creation of new historic districts was made more difficult following the adoption of HB1474 by the Texas State Legislature in 2021, which requires a supermajority of Council to vote in favor of a local historic district if even one owner in the district objects.
Do you support the establishment of more Local Historic Districts to protect Austin’s historic neighborhoods? Why or why not?
YES
I suspect since Austin is smaller then the other cities, and may not have as a mature and active preservation community, we may have fewer historic districts, but it stills seems disproportionately small by comparison. I think understand why we have fewer (by comparison) would be important to addressing how to encourage establish more historic districts. Political or bureaucratic barrier? Local interest or resources? It seems doubtful that HB1474 is the primary barrier since it is relatively new, but understand the barrier(s) would be the first step to addressing this disparity.
In 2023 City Council officially proclaimed October as Legacy Business Month in honor of Preservation Austin’s inaugural Legacy Business Month passport program, which encourages Austinites to support participating businesses and broadly promotes their heritage. The city’s explosive growth has made protections and financial support for legacy businesses more important than ever. City governments in San Francisco and San Antonio have adopted ground-breaking legacy business programs to protect and support their cities’ legacy businesses through designation, education, and directly supporting businesses with financial resources.
If elected, would you support creating a similar program for the City of Austin? Why or why not?
YES
If this program is essentially just a marketing plan, as other cities appear to have implemented it, then its a great example of the community innovating to protect its valued historic business without relying on government subsidies and obligating the entire city to pay for something for something that they may not all support. In practice it would function like a GoFundMe and those interested in the history, support, etc., could get informed, and the businesses would benefit from the visibility.
Underrepresented Heritage is one of Preservation Austin’s Advocacy Priorities. East Austin continues to experience increased rates of displacement and demolition of historic places significant to its Black and Brown neighborhoods. Recently, we’ve advocated for historic zoning for properties in East Austin such as the Sinnigson House and 1500 E. 12th Street. Often, the designation of these properties is supported by our Historic Preservation Office, the Historic Landmark Commission, and Planning Commission, but fail at City Council due to a lack of supermajority votes needed to designate over an owner’s objections.
If elected, would you support designating properties over an owner’s objections? What is your threshold for determining if a property merits designation? Please explain.
NO
This is difficult to answer as a binary "Yes" or "No", but it would have to be a very special case to go against a property owners wishes. Cases can be complex and unfortunately there is no way to give a one word response for every scenario. If a property owner recently purchases and didn't do due diligence or a buyer/seller didn't act in good faith and was misrepresenting things, that could change the perspective on designation. It would be a rare case but there could also be exceptional cases where a property owners intention is at odds with the greater good for community and that property. Generally speaking though, a property owner has a bigger stake than anyone involved and that should be given appropriate weight.
As a member of Austin City Council, what is one policy or initiative you would enact to ensure the preservation of our city’s historic and cultural heritage?
Education is typically an economical way to address or enhance efforts for many city issues, and I think that is no different for historic preservation. That includes surveys and information that can help house flippers, developers, investors, etc. to become more informed about where they should or should not buy lots or properties. There used to be former realtors who taught classes about historic homes, especially in Central Austin. Having more informed buyers might prevent scenarios where they buy a property that they can't easily make changes to, or help property owners or future owners form historic districts. Essentially the education would help buyers navigate buying older homes, and there could be specific education or training for realtors who specialize in this space to understand the nuances.