The City of Tacoma’s Community and Economic Development Department announced today it has selected a consulting team to review the city’s development and historic preservation policies as part of a comprehensive overall improvement.

In a statement released today, the city’s historic preservation officer, Reuben Mcknight, said Winter & Company has been tasked with making sure new development work and historic preservation interests are in synch. “We’re interested in providing more clarity and certainty for developers and the preservation community,” said McKnight.

The $100,000 project directs Winter & Company to scour the City’s development and historic preservation policies for inconsistencies and make recommendation for relevant updates to the City’s comprehensive plan; update the historic building inventory, which now numbers approximately 2,000 properties; and create a more user-friendly database of those properties.

The City Council committed funds to this project and a related $100,000 review of the City’s archaeological resource protection policies to make development easier while protecting the integrity of the City’s unique historic building stock.

The team, led by Nore Winter, includes Donovan Rypkema, an expert on the economics of historic preservation, Michael Sullivan with Tacoma-based Artifacts Consulting, architect Jack Williams, and experts in the fields of code development, public process, and urban design.