Overlay Districts

2009

Tyler’s first historic district overlay, Heritage Neighborhood No. 1 was designated with a marker during a ceremony on Friday, December 11, 2009. The marker was placed at College Avenue & Lindsey Lane in the heart of Tyler’s Azalea National Register Historic District.

The overlay district, comprised of eighteen properties, is generally bounded by Broadway Avenue, Lindsey Lane, College Avenue and Rusk Avenue. The local district includes fifteen single-family homes, two residential properties, the First Presbyterian Church and the Tyler Woman’s Building.

Don and Bonny Edmonds, who live on the corner of College and Lindsey, started the petition for the district as an outcome of the city’s Tyler 21 Plan, which provided for a historic district overly ordinance to better protect properties within Tyler’s six National Register Districts. The historic district overlay was intended to create regulations to aid in preserving structures, sites, or areas that have outstanding historical or cultural significance. Any exterior alterations to structures in the overlay district requiring a building permit must apply for a certificate of appropriateness from Tyler’s Historic Preservation Board. The overlay will not affect alterations such as landscaping and repairs that do not require a building permit.

The overlay is a voluntary district that must consist of at least one block face with a minimum of three contiguous properties, with at least three-fourths of the residential properties being at least 50 years old and 100 percent of the commercial properties being at least 75 years old.

The properties must be located within one of the six designated historic districts listed in Tyler, which include Azalea, Charnwood, Brick Streets, East Ferguson, Donnybrook Duplexes and Short-Line.

The petition to create an overlay must contain signatures from at least 75 percent of the property owners located within the proposed overlay area and be approved by the city council. Through a door-to-door campaign, Don Edmonds secured the support of 15, or 78.9 percent, of the 19 property owners.

(Click on any image to enlarge)

2011

The Heritage No. 2 Historic District Overlay was approved unanimously by the Tyler City Council on January 5, 2011.  Tyler’s second Historic District Overlay  includes 55 properties in the Charnwood Residential Historic District and is generally bounded by the east face of Donnybrook Avenue, the north and south face of East Charnwood Street, the east and west face of Oakland Avenue and the north face of Wells Street.

Lorraine Lozano, a resident of the District, began gathering signatures from her neighbors in October, 2010, and quickly achieved the required 75% or more of the owners’ consent.  About 70 to 75% of the properties in Heritage No. 2 Historical Overlay District  are owner occupied, while the rest are rentals.  The properties include four Tyler Historic Landmarks, and three-fourths of the properties are 50 years and older.

The historic district overlay is intended to create regulations to aid in preservingt structures, sites or areas that have outstanding historical or cultural significance.  The properties in the overly district are subject to the same regulations as properties designated Tyler Historic Landmarks.