The quirky federal law that's at the center of the debate

The Eastmoreland Neighborhood Association has been able to come so close to imposing a historic district on the entire neighborhood, despite the loud and numerous protests of its neighbors.

At the heart of the ENA maneuvering is a little-known federal law defining how a federal historic district is formed and approved.  

This quirky law lets anyone (anyone, anywhere, not even a resident) petition the National Park Service to create a historic district.  If the application is all in order, the entire neighborhood will automatically become a historic district, even without the consent of any homeowner.  

While this federal law seems weird (where anyone can nominate an area for historic district status and it can qualify without an affirmative vote of any property owner), it is purely honorary.  Federal law  imposes NO restrictions on use, alteration, or even demolition of the property.  Oregon is the only government in the country that imposes demolition review and the possibility of other restrictions as a consequence of federal historic district status. The ENA has used this quirk to avoid going through an existing, public process of LOCAL  historic designation.

Here's how it works, according to the law... "A district may not be listed in the National Register over the objection of a majority of owners of private property within the proposed district."

It's saying it can't be listed if most owners don't want it.  That's an odd sort of double-negative wording, so let's reverse it and see how a district can be listed.  It can be restated as, a district can be listed if most owners don't object to being listed.

The law is saying "The district can be listed if most of the owners don't object."  Strangely, there is no requirement that any owner actually be in favor of it.  The  the only thing that matters is that most owners do not object to it.

The only way to stop the historic district process is to have the majority of all homeowners in the district file notarized statements of objection. 

And to pass and enact the historic district, all the supporters need to do is sit and wait.