Preservation chief’s layoff protested

Preservation advocates and several Atlanta City Council members are up in arms over the dismissal of the city’s top preservation official, concerned that future stewardship of historic buildings and neighborhoods is being jeopardized.

A dozen people, among them preservation leaders and residents of historic districts, appealed to the City Council’s Community Development/Human Resources committee Tuesday to rehire Karen Huebner, executive director of the city’s Urban Design Commission.

Huebner was one of the 222 city employees laid off recently as the city sought to offset a $50 million budget shortfall.

Those protesting Huebner’s dismissal found a sympathetic ear in council member Ivory Lee Young.

“Karen has served neighborhoods in every quadrant of the city,” Young said. “Her institutional knowledge can’t be replaced.

“I understand economics, but it’s a matter of priorities. In this case, they’ve made a mistake. I’m going to exhaust every means personal, professional and political to reverse that decision.”

The commission is comprised of an 11-member, mayor-appointed citizen board, supported by the department Huebner has run for 20 years.

Among its duties is the regulation of 54 officially landmarked buildings and 15 districts; it reviews and oversees all potential changes with an eye on preserving their character, and, often, their existence. Its mission to preserve and protect the city’s architectural heritage often pits the UDC against developers and sometimes even city government.

The most recent brouhaha concerns the Georgia Tech Foundation’s desire to raze the 1927 Renaissance-style Crum & Forster Building in Midtown.

“Even those who didn’t like the decisions, they had great respect for the way she does business,” said John Threadgill, an urban planner with EDAW, a landscape architecture and urban design firm, and a former UDC chairman. “I know Karen both as an applicant for approvals and as a commission member. She has all the characteristics you want from a person in public service.”

Threadgill, senior urban designer in EDAW’s San Francisco office, also noted the elimination of another UDC position, that of inspector Sandra Griffin. “That position is critical,” said Threadgill. “Without enforcement, the UDC’s actions aren’t worth a whole lot.”

A statement issued by the department of planning and community development asserted its commitment to the UDC’s mission, with assurances that the remaining staff had the expertise to carry it out. It also noted: “The position of executive director was not eliminated. It is our hope and intent to fill the position once the economy recovers and city revenues improve.”

In appearing before the committee, preservation leaders argued that disabling the commission — now down to three staff members — would have larger ramifications because of its supporting role in tourism and real estate development.

“High and stable property values — and higher property taxes — in a lot of historic neighborhoods is due to the design standards set and enforced by the UDC,” said Mark C. McDonald, president and chief executive of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.

“A weakened UDC bodes badly for historic preservation in the city,” said Kevin Kuharic, historic Oakland Cemetery’s director of restoration and landscapes.

“In other cities like Savannah where preservation is a way of life, it wouldn’t matter as much,” he says.

“Atlanta needs that layer of protection and guidance. We can look to the past and see what happened without it.”

— Staff writer Eric Stirgus contributed to this article.