HISTORIC VERMONT
An on-line news journal about the Preservation of Vermont’s
Historic Architecture and Landscape
Number 7, Early September 2001
Published by the Preservation Trust of
Vermont, 104 Church Street, Burlington, VT
05401(802) 658-6647 http://www.ptvermont.org
For more information, to subscribe or to
unsubscribe to the email version, or to submit
something for publication please contact Meg Campbell, Editor. meg@ptvermont.org
Opportunities
Events
Publications & Resources
Vermont
National
OPPORTUNITIES
NOMINATIONS ACCEPTED
FOR
THE PRESERVATION TRUST OF VERMONT'S
2001 PRESERVATION AWARDS
The Preservation Trust of Vermont is now
accepting nominations for its 2001 Preservation Awards. Awards are
presented to the individuals and organizations who have made
special contributions in preserving Vermont's historic
architecture.
Since 1982, the Preservation Trust of Vermont
has recognized outstanding contributions in the field of historic
preservation. This year, because of the generosity of the
Equinox Resort, all non-profit and community award recipients will
receive a $200 honorarium. Individuals will be able to have their
honorarium donated to the historic preservation non-profit of
their choice. The awards will be presented at the Preservation
Trust's Annual Meeting in November.
Volunteers, professionals, municipalities,
non-profit organizations, businesses and corporations, state
agencies, building contractors, labor unions, media, schools and
colleges, and governmental officials are examples of those who are
eligible for the awards. Eligible activities include:
preservation or adaptive use of an historic property; educational
and public information materials and programs; building trades and
professional training; programming at historic properties;
financial support; and special encouragement and leadership in the
preservation field.
The deadline for nominations is October 10,
2001. Please contact the Preservation Trust of Vermont for a
Nomination Form: (802) 658-6647, 104 Church Street, Burlington,
VT 05401. Email adam@ptvermont.org.
Art Educator
Shelburne Museum seeks an experienced educator versed in American
art history and studio art to teach a hands-on, student-centered
art history class series for students in grades 6, 7, and 8.
Groups of students (approx. 10 students per session) will attend
3-week courses of study taking place at Shelburne Museum - 5
days/week, one hour/day - exploring the
Museum's permanent collection of American and European
Impressionist art. Must be able to work approximately 20
hours/week and be available to work a flexible schedule ranging
(beginning at 8:15am some weeks, and working until
3:00pm other weeks. Position will also support curriculum and
program development.
Position begins immediately. To apply, write or
email with a cover letter and current resume to: Catherine Wood
Brooks, Director of Education, Shelburne Museum, PO Box 10,
Shelburne, VT 05482. cbrooks@shelburnemuseum.org
EVENTS
Art of Local Preservation
Sept. 7, Windsor VT
While aimed at local preservation commissioners, the workshop is
open to all. Features Pratt Cassidy, Dan Becker, Autumn
Rierson, Elsa Gilbertson, James Garvin and others. For those of us
working in the field or with local preservationists, this workshop
is a great opportunity. Cost is $20 For more information, or if
you'd like an application, please contact Chris Cochran at the
Division: ccochran@dca.state.vt.us
828-3047. Sponsored by VT and NH CLG programs.
A Toast to Teddy Roosevelt
September 8, Isle La Motte, VT
Join the Isle La Motte Historical Society and the Isle La Motte
Reef Preservation Trust to commemorate and celebrate the spirit of
Teddy Roosevelt at the Fisk Farm in Isle La Motte on September 8,
2001. Events include actor Ted Zalewski's performance of
"Teddy Roosevelt: Mind, Body and Spirit" and a family
picnic to the music of Sterling Weed and his orchestra. Free
and open to the public.
In September 1901, vice-President Teddy
Roosevelt was the guest of honor at the home of Lieutenant
Governor Nelson W. Fisk on Isle La Motte. The occasion was
the annual banquet of the Vermont Fish and Game League where he
delighted the crowd of over a thousand with stories of his
adventures as a rancher, hunter, explorer and soldier. It
was at this banquet on Isle La Motte that he received word that
President McKinley had been shot.
Vermont Archaeology Week 2001
September 16-22, 2001, Statewide
History Beneath the Surface is the theme of the eighth
annual Vermont Archaeology Week. Vermont’s archaeological
community has assembled an exciting calendar of events to showcase
the state’s vast array of archaeological resources. A
sampling of events includes site tours of Forestdale Ironworks in
Brandon, tours of the abandoned village of North Winhall, talks of
Vermont Life c.9000-7000 BC, a photo exhibit of the Winooski Lime
Industry, and Kids' Archaeology Day at Mt. Independence in
Orwell. A full calendar of events can be found at http://www.vtarchaeology.org/vaw2001.htm
Posters and hard copy calendars are available via uvmcap@zoo.uvm.edu
Vermont Archaeology Week is co-sponsored by the Vermont
Archaeological Society and the Vermont Division for Historic
Preservation. For more information about VAW, contact
Prudence Doherty at (802) 878-0236.
The Vermont Downtown Conference
September 21, Montpelier, VT
Vermont Downtown Program’s third annual Conference will be held
at the Capitol Plaza in Montpelier. Neal Peirce will be the
keynote speaker. Mr. Peirce is a nationally syndicated columnist
with the Washington Post Writers Group, and Chair of the
Citistates Group ( www.citistates.com). He is a foremost writer
among American journalists on community development, growth,
neighborhoods, and state-local issues. The conference will also
feature Kennedy Smith, Director of the National Main Street
Center. Kennedy is one of the nation’s leading experts on
downtown revitalization, and is a frequent and popular speaker in
Vermont. The conference will include sessions on environmental
design for a welcoming downtown, displays of the designated
downtowns around the state, and a reception hosted by Molly
Lambert, Secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community
Development. Registration fliers will be in the mail September 1,
or contact David Provost at 828-3053 dprovost@dca.state.vt.us
for further information or a registration form.
2001 National Preservation Conference
October 16-20, 2001, Providence, RI
More than 2500 preservationists from across the nation will
convene in Providence this October for the National Preservation
Conference, the premier preservation educational gathering in the
United States.
This year's theme, Preserving the Spirit of
Place, was inspired by the last speech delivered by Senator John
Chafee before his untimely death. At the opening of the 2000
National Preservation Conference in Washington, Senator Chafee
invoked the words of D. H. Lawrence: "Different places on the
face of the earth have different vital effluence, different
vibration, different chemical exhalation, different polarity with
different stars: call it what you like. But the spirit of place is
a great reality."
Rhode Island beautifully illustrates the
importance of Preserving the Spirit of Place. From the
revitalization of Providence's urban neighborhoods to the
magnificent mansions of Newport, from vigorous smart growth and
land conservation initiatives to Main Street communities, the
state offers dozens of opportunities to see how preservation
builds better communities. The conference uses its opening and
closing plenary sessions, more than 50 educational sessions, and
more than 30 field sessions to explore the spirit of place, with
the host communities providing living laboratories of preservation
challenges and successes.
More information: http://www.nthpconference.org/
The Age of Homespun in Vermont
November 17, Montpelier
Cloth transformed the landscape of North America. That is the
position of Pulitzer Prize winning historian Laurel Thatcher
Ulrich in her newest book, The Age of Homespun: Objects and
Stories in the Creation of an American Myth. Ms. Ulrich will be
talking about her new book and the research that she conducted for
it at the Vermont Historical Society on Saturday, November 17 at 2
p.m. in the Pavilion Auditorium in Montpelier. Following the talk,
she will answer questions and sign books. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
is the Philips Professor of Early American History at Harvard
University. She won the Pulitzer Prize in history in 1991 for A
Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on her Diary,
1785-1812. For more information, contact Amy Cunningham at
(802) 828-5670. Email: acunningham@vhs.state.vt.us
PUBLICATIONS
& RESOURCES
Vermont National Register and State
Register Forms on CD
The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation is in the process
of placing all the National and State Register forms for the state
on compact discs (CDs). Currently there are approximately 150
volumes of National Register nominations and 450 volumes of State
Register forms. All information in these volumes, including maps,
indexes, and photographs, will be included in the CDs. The
register information on the CDs will be fully as usable as the
paper files. The CDs should be available late this year or early
next year.
To be placed on a a mailing list for future
information on availability and purchase, contact Sue Jamele,
National Register Specialist at the Vermont Division for Historic
Preservation, 828-3046 or sjamele@dca.state.vt.us
Local Official's Guide to Developing
Better Community Post Offices
A project of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, the
Preservation Trust of Vermont, and the Vermont Division for
Historic Preservation
One of the challenges facing Vermont's communities is the struggle
to keep the post office in the town and village centers and to
insure that the design solution fits respectfully in the
community. Factors such as cost and efficiency drive United States
Postal Service decisions to relocate local post office, sometimes
to sites outside of the town center. The Vermont League of Cities
and Towns, the Preservation Trust of Vermont, and the Vermont
Division for Historic Preservation, have worked together with
residents and local, state and federal officials to insure that,
whenever possible, the local post office remains visible,
convenient, accessible and compatible with its surroundings. The
"Local Official's Guide" offers a complete, thoughtful,
step-by-step approach to accomplishing this goal.
The publication is available on the Preservation
Trust's Web Site: http://www.ptvermont.org
(click on books and publications). A print version can be ordered
by email to: adam@ptvermont.org.
Building History of Northern New England
by James L. Garvin, University Press of New England, 2001.
This is a book about understanding old
buildings. In an era in which much of the US landscape has been
littered by unimaginative, prefabricated structures, James L.
Garvin tells owners and would-be owners of old buildings in Maine,
New Hampshire, and Vermont what they need to know before they
begin the restoration process.
In wonderfully lucid prose, Garvin describes the
production of the materials from which the buildings of northern
New England were built, outlines the stylistic evolution of the
region’s structures from the early 1700s to World War II, and
offers guidelines for dating old buildings. Focusing on domestic
architecture, but including examples of public, commercial,
religious, and industrial buildings, he offers custodians of
buildings an understanding of the technologies embodied in these
structures, answers questions about stylistic changes, and allows
the architecture of northern New England to be understood for the
first time with a technical depth that is already available for
buildings in better-studied parts of the US.
Written for both homeowners and those
responsible for public and museum structures, this volume provides
an understanding of the region’s building history even as it
specifically answers questions that most often perplex architects
and preservationists. By offering all custodians of northern New
England buildings a richer understanding of architectural style
and structure, the book encourages the use of appropriate methods
and materials in building conservation and rehabilitation.
Generously illustrated throughout, the book is also an essential
resource for anyone who is interested in American and New England
architecture and the building trades, and for anyone who has ever
wondered about the secrets and stories of old buildings. [Text
from the University Press of New England Web Site: http://www.dartmouth.edu/acad-inst/upne/]
For more information: http://www.dartmouth.edu/acad-inst/upne/1-58465-095-8.html
to order Toll-Free: 1-800-421-1561
VERMONT
Grants Awarded
The Preservation Trust in partnership with the Freeman Foundation
has awarded the following grants:
Railroad Depot, Waterbury.The Waterbury
Railroad Station has been in use as a train station since it was
built in 1875. Prominently sited across the town
green from South Main Street, the property is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. Complete restoration
of the station and rehabilitation of a neighboring freight house
for commercial uses (including continued use as an Amtrak
station) is estimated to cost $1,435,000. Phase One work,
intended to stabilize and rehabilitate the train station,
including restoring the original tower, is estimated to cost
fundraise, oversee the restoration, and manage the property as a
commercial/transportation center. They have raised
$425,000. Local fundraising is ongoing. A grant of
$25,000 will allow them to complete the station restoration.
Dover Historical Society Museum. The
Dover Historical Society owns the 1820 Harris House, which they
have been renovating since 1986 for use as a local
museum. Having completed the basement and main
floor, the museum was opened to the public in May 1999.
They are now fundraising to complete upstairs renovations for a
period 1820-1845 bedroom, a research room, and archival storage
space. They have raised $10,000. A grant of $8,000 will
allow them to complete the project.
Dean Hale Block, St. Johnsbury. Once
again the Gilman Housing is trying to rescue a badly burned, but
salvagable and important downtown building. They
successfully completed the rescue and restoration of the
Matthewson Block in Lyndonville, and that building is being
productively used for housing and office space. The Hale
Block in St. Johnsbury occupies an equally prominent location in
St. Johnsbury. Once basic stabilization is complete, Gilman
plans to enlist the building trades program at St. Johnsbury
Academy in the interior restoration process. To date. they
have raised over half of the $275,000 stabilization work.
A grant of $35,000 coupled additional fundraising will enable
them to rescue the late 19th century building.
Engine 494 Pavilion, White River Junction.
The New England Transporation Institute and Museum have major
master plan designed to help revitalize downtown White River
Junction. The first step in the mult-stage, multi-year process
is the construction of a pavilion to protect one of the last
remaining steam engines in Vermont. Built in 1892, Engine
494 has attracted funds and many volunteer hours to help
complete stabilization work. The pavilion will cost a
total of $130,000, and they have raised $60,000. A grant
of $40,000 will enable them to complete this phase of their
master plan.
Fern Hill Cottage, Rutland. The
Becomings Foundation (a nonprofit educational organization)
purchased Fern Hill Cottage in May of 2000 with the intent to
convert the historic house into a community education center
with a focus on environmental issues. The Cottage is in fair
shape with a number or significant restoration needs - including
the replacement of the roof system, painting, and removal of an
unsympathetic exterior fire stairway. Since the acquisition of
the Cottage the group has raised $70,000 in cash and received
$60,000 in in-kind donations. The roof replacement is a
priority item on the list of restoration elements developed by
architect Michael Beattie under a PTV Project Development
Grant. A grant of $30,000 will enable them to complete all
the work identified above.
Vermont Ski Museum, Stowe. The
Old Meeting House, in the center of the Village of Stowe, has
served municipal purposes since its construction in 1818.
The building is currently vacant with an active effort to
restore and use the building as the home of the Vermont Ski
Museum. An engineering assessment, funded in part by
PTV, has been incorporated into the restoration plans. The
restored Old Meeting House will house and display collections,
provide research facilities and educational programs, and be the
location for presentations, lectures, and other public
events. The Vermont Ski Museum will lease the
building from the town of Stowe. The current restoration budget
totals $752,500 including building stabilization, museum
improvements, purchase and
removal of the adjacent gas station, and development of parking.
The town has voted a $150,000 bond to support the project and an
additional $205,000 has been raised privately for parking lot
acquisition and improvements. A grant of $50,000 will
enable the group to complete the first phase of the work on the
building.
Bethel-Lympus Church, Bethel.
Built in the late 1830s, this remotely-located, white clapboard
church remains remarkably unchanged with no heat or
electricity. The church is used seasonally by local and
summer residents who have worked hard to maintain the
building. Over the past year-and-a-half, the
Trustees have been fund-raising to address critically-needed
repairs to the foundation and framing. They have raised
$15,000. A grant of $20,000 will allow them to repair the
foundation and framing, correct site and drainage problems, and
make repairs to the porch, cornice, and roof flashing.
Further, this grant will provide a boost and a challenge to the
community to locally raise the final $5,000 needed to paint the
building and repair windows.
National Register News
The National Park Service has recently listed the District Number
Four School in Craftsbury on the National Register of Historic
Places. The circa 1859 Greek Revival style two room schoolhouse
was nominated under the Educational Resources of Vermont Multiple
Property Documentation Form. It is representative of the evolving
Vermont schoolhouse standards in the 19th and 20th centuries. It
was recently rehabbed utilizing the Rehabilitation Investment Tax
Credit.
The National Park Service also recently listed
the Taftsville Historic District in Hartford, Hartland and
Woodstock on the National Register of Historic Places. The
district is significant as a largely intact example of a 19th
century Vermont industrial village with a cross section of
architectural styles that form a cohesive unit linked by their
history and setting along the Ottauquechee River.
Linking Students to Local History
The Vermont Historical Society's "Community History
Project" aims to protect and provide access to the wealth of
information housed by the 170+ local historical societies in the
state. To do this, local historical societies are partnered with a
nearby school. Students and historical society volunteers will
receive training in computer usage, artifact handling and
cataloging. They will work together to record and digitize these
collections, producing an online exhibit that answers the
question: How has a community's history influenced its character
today? Through generous funding from the Verizon Foundation and
IBM-Vermont, fourteen pilot sites have been chosen to begin the
project in September 2001. Contact Cynthia Tokos at (802) 223-4884
for more information on this exciting project.
VT Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program
Enters Top 10 in the Nation
Vermont was again ranked number one in the New England and has
moved into the top ten among states with the most approved tax
credit projects. Expenditures doubled from $4.7 million in FY 99
to $9 million in FY 00. Likewise, Vermont climbed to 8th
nationally from its previous rank of 14th with a total of 36
approved projects. The increase is attributed to a strong national
economy and an increased public awareness of the program as well
as the state 5% piggyback tax incentive. In 2000, Vermonters
leveraged nearly $2 million in federal tax credits.
Of special note--more and more of Vermont's
affordable housing community uses the RITC in conjunction with
low-income housing credits. With the help of Vermont's network of
affordable housing corporations, two-thirds (24 of the 36
projects) of Vermont's tax credit projects created affordable
housing in historic buildings--buildings that foster community
pride and promote a quality of life often not found in new
construction.
The purpose of the Rehabilitation Investment Tax
Credit (RITC) program is to encourage the preservation of income
producing historic buildings (e.g. retail stores, office or
apartment buildings, or vacation rentals) by providing a 20%
federal tax credit to property owners. The program is instrumental
in preserving the historic places that give Vermont cities, towns,
villages and rural areas their special character.
Please contact Chris Cochran, 828-3047 or ccochran@dca.state.vt.us
if you would like more information on how the state and federal
tax incentives can be used to help rehabilitate historic buildings
in your community.
Castleton, Castleton Town Offices
The Select Board in Castleton has made a firm commitment to keep
the Town Offices in their current location. Last summer the
town explored the idea of moving the offices to route 4A at the
site of the former Castleton Family Health Center. Castleton
voters twice rejected that proposal. The talk of moving
began because the existing wiring, furnace, upstairs storage
space, and handicap accessibility of the current building need to
be upgraded.
Chittenden, Barstow School
Barstow School is 1930's brick school house which now houses K-8
students in the Chittenden-Mendon School district. School is
currently undergoing major renovation/addition project. One of the
original spaces in the school - a small theatre/stage/community
room has been classroom space for many years but now is being
considered for restoration to original finish and function. The
project has been awarded a Freeman Foundation grant through the
Preservation Trust of Vermont.
Ludlow, United Church of Ludlow
Church members are hoping to spend nearly $200,000 restoring their
109-year old United Church of Ludlow. The church, a 3-story,
shingle-style building with a large corner tower, retains its
original wiring, plumbing and wood structure. The
restoration plan is still being formulated, but at a minimum the
plan includes restoring the sanctuary including the ornate
stenciling, oak beams and trim detail that have been covered with
paint. The church is widely used by other community groups.
Northfield, United Church
Built in 1836 by Gov. Charles Paine and sold to the Congregational
Society in 1855, this Greek Revival style church has undergone a
series of renovations, with the building raised to add a hall in
1858, an entry vestibule in 1875, the interior substantially
renovated in 1902, and rear wing added in 1965. The Church leaders
are beginning the funding and rehabilitation process.
Pittsford, Post Office
The town of Pittsford is in the throws of considering relocation
of their community post office. The plan is to replace the
existing 900-square foot post office with a 3,630-square foot post
office at the Junction of Plains road and Route 7. Even though the
proposed site is preferable to building miles outside of the
village area, the location is still outside of the traditional
center. There are no sidewalks which lead to it and it is a
distance from the library, supermarket, laundromat and residence
for the elderly. Also at issue is storm water runoff which
could pollute a nearby pond and stream.
Randolph, Railroad Coal Sheds
Located along the tracks in Depot Square, these coal sheds are
owned by Sheldon and Elinor Gray on land leased from the railroad.
The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
and is made up of two coal silos and a large building. There may
be only one or two other coal sheds in Vermont. Though the
buildings are in need of significant repair, the structure is very
intriguing in that it retains all of the operating mechanisms for
sorting and loading the coal into trucks.
The community is exploring alternatives to
demolition. A group of Randolph citizens is interested in
the restoration of the coal sheds and developing an "Historic
Railroad Village" with the existing buildings where the coal
shed would be the centerpiece. The group might partner with the
Randolph Community Development Corporation, the owner of the
nearby, recently restored train station.
Richford, Wheeler Block
Built in 1925 as an auto dealership then converted to an A &
P, this boarded-up downtown building is listed on the National
Register of Historic Places. The Wheeler block was awarded
$175,000 through the Save America's Treasures Grant program for
stabilization and rehabilitation. The town, residents, and the
Richford Economic Advancement Corp. (REAC), are
brainstorming adaptive reuses for this property.
Rutland, Home Depot
Despite the efforts of activist groups Friends of Vermont's Way of
Life and Rutland Region First, Home Depot received its Act 250
permit this August, likely clearing the way for the second Home
Depot store in Vermont. The state Environmental Board did
not accept the arguments of the dissenting groups and believes
that the economic impact on local businesses would be minimal. The
store -- a total of 133,812 square feet -- will be built on the
site of the former Rutland Mall on Route 4. Local
home-improvement shops are gearing up for possibly unfortunate
changes in how they do business.
If you want a sense of Home Depot's scale, check
out the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's site "How Big is
Big?" http://www.newrules.org/retail/howbigisbig.html
Shoreham, Historic Village District
A number of historic buildings surrounding the Shoreham Village
Green are in transition. The library needs an addition, the
Masonic Temple will soon be on the auction block, the very
historic Newton Academy is in need of extensive restoration and
the town clerk's office building is bursting at the seams.
The Preservation Trust is working with the
community to discuss strategies for a prudent restoration and
re-use plan for the entire village area. The town has
completed a visioning and priority setting process and is now
ready to put the various ideas into a collective plan. They have
applied for a Vermont Community Development Program Planning Grant
which would fund the development of a master plan for the entire
Commons area, including traffic/parking, pedestrian use,
fundraising strategy and a prioritized strategy for the
restoration of the historic structures surrounding the Common.
NATIONAL
Belfast Voters outlaw Big Box Stores
In June, residents of Belfast, Maine voted 2-to-1 to ban retail
stores larger than 75,000 square feet. They also elected two big
box opponents to the City Council by substantial margins.
Belfast, located in the fast-growing mid-coast
region about two and a half hours north of Portland, has a
population of 6,400. It's 18th century downtown is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
The debate over big box stores began last spring
when Wal-Mart optioned land to build a 160,000 square foot
supercenter in a hayfield on the outskirts of town. The City
Council, by a 3-2 vote, immediately enacted a moratorium on
commercial development larger than 25,000 square feet. The mayor
and three city councilors who favored the moratorium and scheduled
the referendum endured heavy criticism for their
"anti-growth" position.
In the end, however, voters endorsed the
council's move. "It's a vindication of the referendum and
moratorium," Mayor Michael Hurley told the Maine Times. The
moratorium enabled the community to engage in "an incredibly
valuable debate across kitchen tables, in coffee shops, on the
street corner, in barbershops, in the co-op. People learned a lot
about our economy and about the predatory practices" of
big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Home Depot.
Driving the debate and public education campaign
was a grassroots group known as Belfast First. In letters to the
editor, public meetings, and printed materials, the group argued
that large-scale chain stores would undermine Belfast's small town
feel and sense of community. Their campaign apparently moved many
voters; informal surveys several months before the referendum
suggested that about 60 percent favored Wal-Mart and other big box
stores.
According to the mayor, Belfast First's greatest
achievement was convincing several prominent community leaders to
appear in a full-page newspaper ad in support of outlawing big
boxes. The participants were not only well-known, but native to
Belfast, a fact that helped eliminate the perception that big box
opponents were all newcomers to the area. Natives vs. newcomers
has been a fault-line in Belfast politics since the 1960s and
1970s, when many hippies, artists, and back-to-the-land folks
settled in the community.
The vote made Belfast the first community in
Maine to ban big box stores. Wal-Mart is working to build about
half a dozen new supercenters in Maine and has encountered
organized opposition in several communities.
--Stacy Mitchell is a researcher with the New
Rules Project (http://www.newrules.org/)
of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) and author of The
Home Town Advantage: How to Defend Your Main Street Against Chain
Stores and Why It Matters. This article was originally published
in the Home Town Advantage Bulletin, ILSR's bimonthly email
newsletter (http://www.newrules.org/hta/index.htm).
New State Tax Credit for Commercial Rehab
Rhode Island has adopted a new state tax credit for developers who
fix up historic commercial buildings. On July 10, 2001, Governor
Lincoln Almond signed a bill that allows owners to apply for state
income tax credits equal to 30% of their rehab expenses. Potential
projects range from large mills and downtown office buildings to
historic stores and apartment buildings. By using the new state
tax credits in combination with existing federal tax credits,
developers can write off about half the costs of restoring their
historic buildings. Rhode Island has about 900 commercial
buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places that
are eligible for the tax credits.
http://204.139.0.192/news_txt.html#New%20State%20Tax%20Credit%20for%20Commercial%20Buildings
(Scroll down the page for the story.)
Smart Codes
The Maryland Building Rehabilitation Code Program encourages
investment in existing neighborhoods through the rehabilitation
and reuse of existing buildings. The program, a component of
Maryland's Smart Growth initiative, centers on the development of
a new Maryland Building Rehabilitation Code (effective June 1,
2001) that establishes the construction code requirements for work
on existing buildings over 1 year old.
Professionals in the building codes and
development fields have repeatedly raised concerns that the
application of the state's current construction codes can present
significant barriers to the improvement or redevelopment of
existing buildings. Maryland regulated building construction with
a complex patchwork of ten individual codes that varied from local
jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In response, a citizen's task force
was created to recommend way to address code barriers to
redevelopment. The task force examined a similar code in New
Jersey and recommended to the Governor that Maryland develop a
statewide building code for rehabilitation.
http://www.dhcd.state.md.us/smartcodes/program_overview.htm
Development Outpaces Population Growth
Although sprawl development is often justified on the grounds that
it’s needed to accommodate population growth, the fact is, land
development outpaces population growth almost everywhere.
According to a new report by the Brookings Institution’s Center
on Urban & Metropolitan Policy, most metropolitan areas in the
U.S. are developing land much faster than they are adding
population. Between 1982 and 1997, the amount of urbanized land in
the U.S. increased by 47%, while the nation’s population grew by
only 17% during the same period. Nashville’s population rose by
33% while the amount of urbanized land increased by more than
100%. For details: http://www.brookings.edu/urban/fulton-pendall.htm;
click on “Who Sprawl Most?”
(Preservation Advocate News: State and Local
Policy News is brought to you by the State & Local Policy
Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Editor:
Constance E. Beaumont; contributors: Elizabeth G. Pianca, Leslie
Tucker, & Carl Wolf. Richard Moe, President; Kathryn Higgins,
Vice-President for Public Policy. NTHP/Public Policy, 1785 Mass.
Ave., N.W., Washington, D. C. 20036, 202/588-6254 (tel);
202/588-6038 (fax); policy@nthp.org)
For more information about Historic Vermont, to subscribe
or to unsubscribe to the email version, or to submit something for
publication please contact Meg Campbell, Editor. meg@ptvermont.org
