Trying to preserve every old building will cause your town to grow stagnant.
IMHO the best approach to maintaining a downtown is to keep a few important buildings from the past.
The town should ask that any replacement buildings should be quality or show case structures.
Architects love to design and they are known to construct architecturally interesting buildings in historic areas.
If the town manages its historic district well, new construction will keep the historic district vital. If architects put their best designs in the district, it is possible that a few of the new buildings will be of historic interest a hundred years from now.
!WINE
Posted using Proof of Brain
The primary thing we are hoping for is that new construction is done according to some kind of plan, not just a helter-skelter mess of "everything goes." Our city government leaves a lot to be desired, sadly...