Johnson City in process of updating guidelines for the Downtown Historic District [Video]

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL)—Johnson City’s Planning and Development Services and the Historic Zoning Commission are working on rewriting the city’s Downtown Historic District guidelines. On Wednesday, they held a community workshop to ask downtown businesses and building owners for their input on the guidelines.

“We will eliminate the outdated language and the vagueness and some of the difficult portions that we found to cause time delays and more issues than necessary for these business owners that are proposing renovations or exterior modifications to the buildings,” Brice McNamer, city planner and historic planner liaison to the Historic Zoning Commission, said.

Kate Pierce, co-owner of Dos Gatos Coffee Bar in downtown Johnson City, said she came to the meeting to help preserve the community’s character.

“It’s not like other places,” Pierce said. “And Johnson City doesn’t need to be like anywhere …