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SALT LAKE CITY — Tim and Megan Gibbons have always adored the colonial charm of the homes lining Harvard Avenue in Yalecrest, but they thought they'd never be able to afford to live there.
"We thought only when pigs fly," Tim Gibbons said.
Yet three years ago, the couple's dream came true. Now, a flying pig weather vane sits atop the roof of their historic home.
But Thursday, Gibbons worried for the future of his neighborhood and other historic areas of Salt Lake City.
That morning, a House committee gave unanimous, preliminary approval to HB223, a bill that would tighten the requirements for citizen-driven historic districts, or areas where architectural characteristics are preserved by law.
And the bill seems to target Salt Lake City, as the only city in the state that has a citizen-initiated historic district process.
Currently, Salt Lake City residents applying to make their neighborhoods a historic district must first collect signatures from 15 percent of people who live in the proposed boundaries to initiate the process. Then, 51 percent of respondents to a neighborhood poll must approve the district.
HB223 would increase the signature threshold to 33 percent, and then require a two-thirds vote of not only those who respond to the poll, but of all the homeowners living within the neighborhood.
"It's disconcerting," Gibbons said, because the bill would not only require a very unlikely voter participation, but it would also work retroactively and void historic district applications that had not been completed as of January this year.
That would include two in-process Yalecrest initiatives, one of which would protect Gibbons' Harvard-Yale neighborhood.
Gibbons' neighbor, Amy Reid, has been working for more than a year to advance the Harvard-Yale historic district. Reid said if HB223 passes the Utah Legislature, she would have to start from "ground zero," and it will make it that much more difficult — if not impossible — to preserve neighborhoods.
"The only tool we have to prevent demolitions and mega-mansions, which is happening all over Yalecrest, is the local historic district," Reid said. "This is really meant to kill preservation."
But lawmakers argued the bill would create a better historic preservation process — one that does not jeopardize homeowner property rights.
Rep. Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, who is also the owner of a home development company, is sponsoring the bill. Wilson said he worries that Salt Lake City's current requirements allow too small of a percentage of residents to strip homeowner freedoms because historic districts place strict renovation requirements.
"There's value in historic districts, but we need to make sure that when we're dealing with property rights, we have good processes, that people understand what they're getting themselves into," Wilson said. "Once you see a neighborhood go into a historical district, it doesn't get undone."
To inform neighbors, the bill would require the city to distribute materials listing the pros and cons of historic districts before the petition process.
Wilson pointed out that his bill would not affect a second pathway to form a historic district, one through direct City Council approval.
Rep. Jacob Anderegg, R-Lehi, said a select group of passionate residents should not have the power to control their neighbors' renovation decisions.
"Whenever you have one citizen removing the property rights of another citizen without their consent, I agree that should be done in a very slow and systematic way," Anderegg said. "For me, that bar should be pretty high."
Salt Lake City resident Susan Porter echoed Anderegg's concerns. She said even though she's been able to maintain her home's historical integrity, renovation requirements can be too costly for others. Her windows, she said, cost $75,000.
"Our homes are probably one of the most important things we ever buy and probably the largest investment we ever have," said Scott Brown, a Yalecrest resident who spoke in favor of Wilson's bill. "To have all of a sudden our rights restricted to what we can and cannot do to the home, I think this needs to be carefully considered."
Mike Ostermiller, representing the Utah Association of Realtors and the Utah Property Rights Coalition, also backed the bill.
City leaders, however, won't support Wilson's bill as it's currently written, according to Lynn Pace, Salt Lake City policy adviser and president of the Utah League of Cities and Towns.
"We recognize there are challenges with the current ordinance," Pace said. "But it would be patently unfair to require a fixed percentage of property owners, when you may not even get two-thirds to respond. That's an impossible hurdle."
Pace said city officials would prefer that the two-thirds requirement apply to total poll respondents, not the entire neighborhood.
"Those who care enough to respond ought to be those who make the decision," he said, "not those who don't care enough to respond." Email: kmckellar@deseretnews.com Twitter: KatieMcKellar1
