[Source: Lesley Wright, Arizona Republic] -- The Scottsdale Historical Preservation Commission plans to tell the City Council that a conservation easement is the best preservation the Kerr Cultural Center can expect to get. Commission Chairman George Hartz said he wants to describe the hundreds of letters and hours of emotional testimony that led the commission unanimously to recommend the city accept the easement from Arizona State University. The Kerr Cultural Center at 6110 N. Scottsdale Road consists of the home and studio-performance hall of composer and philanthropist Louise Lincoln Kerr, who donated the site to ASU in 1977. Scottsdale had discussed putting historic zoning over the site, but ASU said the city has no authority to zone state-owned land. The university suggested that the conservation easement would reach the same goals. Hundreds of musicians and residents have pleaded with the commission and the university to protect the adjacent parking lot so the center can continue to be viable as a performance hall.
[Note: To read the full article, click here. Photo source: Ralph Freso, Tribune.]
