RALEIGH - Around the country, teardowns have started in the spotty fashion we are experiencing in Raleigh and accelerated to the point where entire neighborhoods can change in just a year's time.

Under current policies and regulations, the tear-down rate in Raleigh is likely to accelerate, creating a less diverse housing stock and driving lower income residents to suburban areas where public transportation is less available. A diversity of housing stock, particularly smaller homes where the initial investments for land and construction have been amortized over a longer period of time, tends to be more affordable and accessible to first-time homebuyers, providing work force housing that is essential to a healthy city.

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TEARDOWNS OFTEN OCCUR IN CLUSTERS, changing the very character of neighborhoods by replacing the demolished homes with new structures out of scale and character with their neighbors. This needn't be the case. Established neighborhoods can absorb new structures and additions to existing homes without sacrificing the character their residents value. Raleigh's Oakwood Historic District is one example where many homeowners have increased the square footage of their homes and infill structures have been built without diminishing the character of the neighborhood.

A building needn't be officially designated historic to be worth saving. Its quality materials give it worth and make it an excellent investment. Indeed, homes built prior to 1950 are increasingly rare in our rapidly growing community.

Many older structures are built from old-growth wood that is far superior in strength and decay-resistance to wood currently available. Many older structures have plaster walls, which do not support the growth of mold the way drywall does. Thus, the newer structure often is of less sustainable quality than the one it replaced.

The greatest growth is in households of one or two people. For an aging population, dwellings without stairs, such as ranch homes and bungalows, provide the ability to remain in one's home and neighborhood longer. Teardowns that replace an existing structure with a radically larger, multistory structure are bucking these demographic trends and creating buildings that may prove less desirable in the long run.

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RALEIGH CAN AND SHOULD DO SOMETHING about this teardown trend. A relatively intact neighborhood may merit designation as a local historic district. The designation would not prevent teardowns, but it would require that the new structure be compatible with other structures in the neighborhood. (Note: Listing on the National Register does not confer these protections.)

Alternately the city could apply a form-based code in neighborhoods that cannot or do not want to be designated historic so that size, massing and compatibility with neighboring structures can be given greater weight than traditional zoning provides.

Raleigh's diverse neighborhoods are incomparable treasures. When elements of the Raleigh Historic Districts Commission survey of properties built between 1940 and 1960 were presented at a preservation conference, other commissions reacted with envy of our architectural assets.

We owe it to today's and tomorrow's citizens to maintain a diversity of neighborhoods that supports the health of our city and our changing population.

(Curtis Kasefang of Raleigh is chairman of the Raleigh Historic Districts Commission.)

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