Why don’t we make the whole d*** District Historic and get it over with

Over in Ward 3 they are seeking to make Chevy Chase a big ole historic district divided into 5 zones. Now the residents of Chevy Chase can do whatever they will.
However it just shows a trend of neighborhoods of running after historic district status when their main thing is not the pursuit of preserving a history but of preventing certain types of architecture, like modernist styles or McMansions or just the cache of saying you live in an historic district.
Maybe what is needed something that will allow limited homeowner associations to be imposed on established neighborhoods or something else so people don’t have to go through the farce of pretending they are preserving a particular story, a unique story. [Insert geographical location] was built/ established/ formed in [date -50+ years from today] by [insert name of builder/ architect]. It served [ethnic group/ occupation/ class] with [businesses and/or services]. In time that will describe the whole effin’ city.
It would help maybe if someone could describe what ISN’T an historic district and why. Because every single brick/ concrete slab has a history.