Mike Sizemore has a picture hanging in his front hallway of the Breezedale neighborhood, circa 1900.

Today, Mike Sizemore lives in one of the houses in the picture. The saplings in the photo are now stately shade trees, but the stone monuments marked “Breezedale” look the same. The continuity with the past is one of the reasons Sizemore loves his neighborhood.

“I think it’s important to preserve what’s been here for almost a hundred years now,” he said.

Sizemore’s comments are music to Lynne Braddock-Zollner’s ears. Braddock-Zollner is the new historic resources administrator for the Lawrence-Douglas County planning office. She’s charged with identifying and protecting the city’s historic areas and carrying out the city’s master preservation plan.

“I’ll always tend to err toward the side of preservation,” Braddock-Zollner said. “But there are lots of other people in this office.”

There also are lots of property owners in the community who have their own ideas about what should be declared historic. After two proposed historic districts in the Pinckney neighborhood — studies for which were financed by a state grant — ignited controversy, the planning office reassessed how it would apply for grants in the future.

“What we’d like to do is hold public meetings,” Braddock-Zollner said. “We want the final grant proposal to adequately reflect what the public wants.”

The deadline for preliminary grant applications is today. The city is expected to submit proposals for three more historic districts — in the Old West Lawrence, Oread and Breezedale neighborhoods. But Braddock-Zollner said nothing was finalized yet.

“(Today’s submissions) are just to give the state an idea of the districts we’re looking at,” she said.

Lynne Braddock-Zollner is the new historic resources administrator for the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department. She will be dealing with the changing ways the city handles creation of historic districts.

After the applications are in, planning office officials plan to send letters to the property owners likely to be affected by the districts, as well as meet with neighborhood groups and the Lawrence Preservation Alliance.

“I think everyone’s opinion matters,” Braddock-Zollner said. “And I think everyone who has a concern deserves to be heard.”

The boundaries for the three districts are not set, and the planning department hopes to craft a final proposal that would only include those property owners who wish to be included. In Breezedale, Sizemore said he would definitely opt in, but he acknowledged his neighbors might have different views.

“I could tell you 10 people who are in favor of the districting and 10 or 12 people who will oppose it to the end,” Sizemore said. “But I hope the discussion will help bring us together as a neighborhood.”

The city’s Historic Resources Commission will have the final say over which grant applications are filed.

¢ 6News video: Administrator pledges to consider public input on historic designations¢ Historic district details unveiled (8-23-03)¢ Proposed historic district contributing properties listed¢ Historic district proposal rouses residents (8-17-03)¢ Neighbors disagree on historic district (8-16-03)¢ 6News video: Pinckney neighbors disagree on historic district (8-16-03)¢ Historic district proposal could pay off for city (8-09-03)¢ 6News video: Lawrence wants historic recognition for neighborhoods¢Historic preservation in Lawrence