Wichita ? A historic preservation board blocked a request by Sedgwick County to demolish 17 buildings to make way for its downtown arena, questioning how the county can request permission to tear down buildings it does not own without even notifying the property owners.

The county owns four of the 17 buildings and is trying to buy the rest through eminent domain, which allows the government to take private property for public use.

Sedgwick County needs the board’s permission to tear the buildings down because either they are within 500 feet of a national historic district or meet one of the criteria for historic designation.

The Wichita Historic Preservation Board, which denied the request Monday, will take up the issue again on Dec. 11 after it has notified property owners.

“Sedgwick County is not the owner of many of these properties,” board chairman George Platt said. “Is this even a legitimate query? Where in the statute can an interested party request to demolish another person’s property?”

A city lawyer said the preservation board’s ordinances do not limit who can request reviews of potential historic buildings and do not mandate that property owners be notified if someone requests a review on whether demolishing the building would affect a historic district.