The Starkville Historic Preservation Commission is officially on board with the Starkville Central Neighborhood Foundation’s move to get downtown recognized as a national historic district.
During its monthly meeting Monday, the commission unanimously approved a motion to support the foundation’s work to secure downtown’s designation with the National Register of Historic Places and laid out specific guidelines for the remainder of the process. Commissioner Tom Walker requested Starkville Main Street Association distribute information and gather opinions from the 104 individual property owners.
Walker said the second part of the motion was important because he wanted all property owners to have “every opportunity possible” to be informed and weigh in on the nomination for designation. Downtown stakeholders would need a 51 percent vote to prevent downtown’s spot on the registry; otherwise, it will go into effect after the application is accepted.
The commission pushed back consideration of supporting the move at its last meeting to obtain more information and ensure Main Street would canvass downtown stakeholders.
“Building owners should have the final decision, and we applaud Main Street for agreeing to canvass owners,” Walker said.
All commission approvals must be approved by the Board of Aldermen.
Walker, who owns property downtown, said he supports the designation, which could net property owners up to 45 percent in federal and state tax credits for renovations that meet registry and Department of Interior standards. And while he acknowledged many property owners haven’t shown the interest they should, he bemoaned a lack of correspondence between the owners and the foundation. Walker said many of the downtown building owners didn’t receive the invitation to a Nov. 3 workshop luncheon regarding the registry process.
“There’s a lot going on, very fast,” said Main Street member Steve Langston, who owns seven downtown properties. “It’s really hard to get access to the information.”
Foundation President Kathleen Hamby reminded Walker that the national registry process was started to preserve the history of downtown and promote tourism. She also reminded the commission that information is available at the foundation’s website, historicstarkville.org.
Cities with historic preservation commissions typically establish local districts and create a new set of codes building owners must comply with. Federal tax credits would still be available without a local historic district designation. However, Walker noted that most districts on the national registry are also local districts.
The establishment of a local district will be at the discretion of the commission and Board of Aldermen.
“It could be national and not local to avoid the local bureaucracy,” Commission Briar Jones said.
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