Speak Up: How important should history be to planning and zoning decisions?

The Dover Planning Commission decided recently to allow demolition of two historical properties on South Bradford Street, to make room for a parking structure. The approval overturns an earlier Historic District Commission ruling to block the removal of the buildings. What do you think should be done? How much should a site’s history play into development? Is there a happy medium?

• If we destroy what makes our city our city, then why would people come here? The parking situation in downtown has been overstated by naysayers, who probably wouldn’t go downtown anyway. For those of us who do go downtown, there is plenty of parking. It’s really that there are not enough businesses to go to. Destroying history destroys what makes going downtown worth it. Make the parking garage, but the buildings don’t need to be torn down. Just make it taller like the other proposal or maybe it doesn’t need that many spots to begin with. — Emily Green
• The public should have been allowed to give input at the Planning Commission meeting. Only the Downtown Dover Partnership was allowed to speak, so the commission did not hear from the public. — The Friends of Old Dover
• Thank you for at least asking the question. Solutions and answers are rarely ever found when questions are not asked, and possibilities are ignored. — Tim Pancoast
• Less than 2,000 citizens voted in the last election. Tells you everything you need to know. — N. Taylor Collins
• So many historical buildings are falling apart. Full of asbestos. Eyesores. And it isn’t till a great idea comes up, like a great parking lot, that the public yells, “Oh, save it. But don’t use our money.” Dover needs quality, safe parking. Not old rotten buildings. — Denise Bella
• These buildings aren’t old and rotten, and do we really need more parking? I’ve seen lots of people on other posts saying they wouldn’t even use the parking garage because it won’t be safe. So, we would destroy history to build a cement monstrosity that no one will use? — Emily Green
• It’s a five-story parking garage. They already spent like $400,000 on the infrastructure and parking lot where Dover Hardware/Dover Newsstand was. There are empty lots dotted all over the place in Dover, where things get torn down and sit vacant for years. I think they sold the Dover Hardware lot for like $140,000 (what a waste of time and money), and it has not been developed yet. As far as old, rotten buildings, have you looked at what’s been torn down? The Scull Mansion was a recent example. And the original builder designed the city to be a grand capital and started the library, as he wanted to make sure Dover had some arts and humanities to become more culturally aware. To honor his memory, we cut down all the trees and the house, and hardscaped almost 12 acres. What was once home to birds and flowers and many varied trees in this era of climate change is now hardscaped and runoff drains straight into the St. Jones. Fun times. — N. Taylor Collins