Four years after a national historic designation divided residents of Bends Drake Park neighborhood, a group of neighbors is pushing for new zoning rules they say will help preserve the areas historic character.

Earlier this year, the neighbors went to the Deschutes County Historic Landmarks Commission to seek the groups support for a new overlay zone for the Drake Park Historic District, a 19-acre area thats bordered by Broadway Street, Riverside Boulevard and Tumalo and Franklin avenues and includes some of the citys oldest homes.

The neighborhood was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, making it one of Bends two historic districts, along with the Old Town Historic District and making it an area where residents were subject to new rules about changes to the exterior of their homes.

The effort to get the neighborhood on the register was backed by several residents who said they wanted to keep the area looking the same way it had for years, but was criticized by others who didnt want to lose their right to alter their homes.

Now, some of the supporters of the initial effort say the rules about the historic district dont do enough to regulate how people use their homes, and theyre asking the city to create a new overlay zone that would further tighten the restrictions.

Ernie Mazorol, one of the neighbors who brought the idea to the commission, said hes interested in an overlay because it would make the rules clear and stop neighbors from having to fight development plans over and over again.

Though the Landmarks Commission handles issues regarding the exterior appearance of buildings in the district, requests about a change in usage of a building such as opening a home business or converting a single unit into a duplex require the action of city planning officials.

Mazorol said he and other neighbors have circulated petitions and gone to the Bend Planning Commission on two recent occasions to fight neighbors plans to build an apartment and to use a home as a vacation rental. Mazorols wife, Shelley Johnson, said it makes more sense to ban certain home uses outright than to have the city and neighbors fight many individual battles.

We cant keep doing petitions every time an issue comes up for the city, Johnson said. We want a nice little blanket saying this is the way its going to be and we know that. And when people move into the neighborhood, they will know that.

Mazorol, Johnson and other neighbors presented the Landmarks Commission a list of uses and activities theyd like to see prohibited for homes in the district, including vacation rentals and timeshare units, bed and breakfast inns, adult foster or day care homes, child care facilities and temporary housing.

Heidi Slaybaugh, the commissions chairwoman, said the group voted to forward the idea to the Bend City Council, which can opt to consider the matter or not.

Our role is to help protect all historic resources, and if there is a consensus from the neighbors that they would like their neighborhood to have a historic overlay … our role is to help protect them and their rights, she said. If thats something they all want, we will send that to the City Council.

Bends current planning manager, Colin Stephens, said implementing an overlay zone would require a lengthy process, including more meetings, planning and public hearings. Because the citys tight budget has forced significant cuts in the planning division, Stephens said it might be difficult to find the resources to work on an overlay zone project.

Some residents of the historic district dont see a need for more regulations.

Mack Giles, who has lived in the neighborhood for about seven years, remembers the debate over the historic district designation and doesnt want to see it repeated.

I think theres quite a few restrictions on there now, so I dont think they need more restrictions, he said.

Scott Shogren, who has lived in the neighborhood for about 30 years, said hes also had enough with the regulation of what neighbors can and cant do with their homes.

It just seems like we come up with all these new things out of the clear blue. … I think its going too far, as far as Im concerned, he said. We keep losing what we can do with our property anyway.

But Johnson, who has lived in the neighborhood since the mid-1980s, sees things differently. She said now is a good time to make the rules clear especially because the economic downturn has given the city a chance to catch up on work it didnt have time to tackle during years of booming development.

This is a crown jewel of Bend, a very important piece of Bend, she said. Were not trying to be elitist. Were just trying to preserve a piece of Bends history, and when you start changing the whole fabric of the neighborhood, you lose that integrity, that whole overall feel, why that neighborhood was developed in the first place.

Drake Park Historic District

Created in 2005, it covers a 19-acre area and 110 buildings, including the houses on the stretch of Riverside Boulevard pictured. The area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which gives local government agencies the authority to regulate the appearance of buildings and other structures. Some residents are pushing for an overlay zone for the area, which would add more rules about what can be built there.