By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

Will Fayetteville's new historic preservation ordinance restrict John Crowe's 93-year-old mother from using her older downtown home as she likes?

Not to worry, City Council members said told Crowe before voting unanimously Monday night to approve the new law.

Crowe said he felt more comfortable after questioning the council. “I don't know whether I like it or not,” he said during a public hearing on the ordinance.

But councilmen assured him his mother's property values won't suffer, and the law does not restrict the uses for which she can use or some day sell the property — only its demolition or alteration, and then only if it's found to be a historic property.

And if so, she'll be eligible for tax credits for improvements to the property, councilmen said.

“Throughout the nation historic preservation has proved to be a boon and to increase property value,” said Mayor Kenneth Steele.

The new ordinance will create a historic preservation commission tasked with identifying historic districts and historic properties in Fayetteville. The group also will rule on the appropriateness of proposed changes to individual properties found to be historic, and will work to get some city resources placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In other action, council turned down Creekwood Trail resident Robert Holme's request that his six-foot privacy fence, built in violation of city ordinances, be allowed to stand.

Holme told council his home, which faces McIntosh Place but has a rear yard facing Creekwood, has been burglarized once and items have been stolen out of the backyard since he moved in last May. Once, he even confronted a peeping Tom, possibly evaluating the house for future burglary, as he came out of the shower, he said.

He also argued that the law prohibiting fences in back yards that face streets should not apply to properties taht were purchased before it went into effect. “There is an issue of fairness here,” he said.

But Creekwood Trail is a residential street, said Councilman Al Hovey-King. “One of the objectives of the ordinance is to not permit fences on residential frontages,” he said.

And although Holme's home was purchased by his landlord before the ordinance was approved, the law had been in place for some time before he built his fence, argued Councilman Bill Talley.

Council voted 4-1, with Glenn Brewer opposed, to deny Holme's request for a variance.