Historic-preservation officials Thursday night came out against what some call “demolition by neglect” — in which an owner gets rid of a building in a historic area by letting it become dangerously dilapidated.

The city’s seven-member Historic Preservation Commission voted unanimously to deny a demolition permit for a barn at 933 R.I. City building inspectors recently declared the building a public-safety hazard because it leans into an alley, so it was actually the city — not the property owner — seeking to demolish the building.

But Andrew Peterson, who lives on the same block as the barn, spoke out against the demolition, saying the building’s owner was “just waiting for this to happen.”

“He’s one of these guys that owns 40 or 50 properties around the city,” Peterson said.

The owner wasn’t present at the meeting, and commissioners said they didn’t know the owner’s identity. Douglas County records list Paul Horvath as the property owner.

Historic Preservation commissioners turned down the request after finding it would detract from historic properties on the block, including the Shalor Eldridge Residence at 945 R.I. The barn and others nearby stand as reminders of a bygone lifestyle, commissioners said.

“To say that taking down this particular structure didn’t harm the environs of the listed properties — that was something we just felt we couldn’t do,” chairman Virgil Dean said afterward. “If we don’t be consistent with how we rule on those things, you’re sending a message: Let it go long enough and it’ll come down.”

Normally, such a denial would have to be appealed to the City Commission, but this case is unusual because the city is making the request.

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Peterson challenged commissioners to find a way to prevent buildings in historic areas from becoming so run-down.

Commissioners also got their first formal look Thursday at a set of proposed historic-preservation guidelines that could be incorporated into Horizon 2020, the long-range development plan for Lawrence and unincorporated areas of Douglas County. The guidelines spell out goals for making historic preservation a priority in the years ahead — for example, keeping the rural character in “strategic” parts of the county.

Commissioners didn’t discuss the document in detail but said they’d like to comb through it during a public study session in the weeks ahead.