Guidelines - City of Oklahoma City

Preservation Standards AND Guidelines August 1, 2012
Sprawl & Waste
Re-using older buildings not only sustains their embodied energy, it reduces waste and sprawl. Existing
landfills eventually reach their capacity, and choosing locations for new ones is often controversial. It
is estimated the building debris from demolition constitutes one-third of landfill material. 2 Over the last
30 years, landfills have been filling to capacity and have been ―retired.‖ Of the 20,000 landfills in use
in 1978, approximately 25% were still taking in refuse ten years later. Of those landfills, the EPA estimated
that 1,234 were still open in 2008. The U.S. generated 143.5 million tons of building-related
construction and demolition debris in 2008, but only 28% (40.2 million tons) was reused, recycled or
sent to waste-to-energy facilities. 2 Demolition can be costly. In 2010, razing a residential building cost
between $6 and $15 per square foot. Beyond the costs of demolition, the cost of hauling and dumping
building debris in a landfill is calculated by weight.
Limiting sprawl benefits a municipality by containing the need for expanding infrastructure, including
streets, water and power lines, schools, and emergency and law enforcement services. Demolition of a
historic structure is always discouraged, and these design guidelines require review of a proposed demolition
by the Historic Preservation Commission. In the past, preservation guidelines were mainly attuned
to the collective historic integrity of a district, citing a demolition as detrimental to the overall
character of the neighborhood. As municipalities focus on the principles that guide sustainability, design
guidelines reinforce the premise that demolition also squanders embodied energy, produces waste
and requires the use of new resources to build anew. Studies have shown that the infrastructure and
services associated with building 100 average-priced homes is three times the revenue produced by the
new properties over a twenty-year period. 4 Furthermore, the open space saved from such development
will actually contribute more to local tax revenue as farm or forest than the cost of services if the land
is developed. 3
Debris from demolished buildings accounts
for approximately one-third of the
volume in landfills.
2. “Construction and Debris (C & D) Waste Facts”, under Deconstruction of C & D Waste at http://
www.advancedrestoration.com.
3. SELC Report on Growth in Middle Tennessee, 14, at http://www.southernenvironment.org/Cases/
smart_growth_tn/growing_report.shtml .
Oklahoma City Historic Districts 13