September 21, 2017 Episode.

One of the ongoing missions of our show is to provide assistance to owners of historic properties. Historic property maintenance is a labor of love, wrapped in specific requirements and technical know-how that often comes with a hefty price-tag.  To encourage these dedicated stewards of our historic legacy, the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), part of the Heritage/Cultural Division of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD), employs experts to help property owners understand the various federal and state incentive programs available, as well as providing hands-on technical expertise. Joy Sears, SHPO's restoration specialist and manager of the tax incentive programs, joined us again to talk about programs available to private homeowners as well as city organizations, and to share some opportunities to learn or refine your restoration skills.

One of the newer programs SHPO administers is the Main Street Oregon program, part of a national program sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation along with several partner organizations.  This program is available to recognized downtown groups throughout the country as an effort to help revitalize their downtown cores. Oregon has 81 communities involved in one of the four Main Street America categories. Joy announced that in 2017 the Oregon program was awarded $2.5 million in matching-grant funds to distribute to eligible applicants. Twenty-five grants were awarded to Main Street organizations across the state, with projects ranging from rehabilitating an historic hotel in Astoria to opening a downtown brewery in McMinnville.  In 2019, SHPO will have $5 million to distribute! Check out the Main Street link for more information. 

SHPO also administers both federal and state tax incentive programs, some available to income-producing properties (like the recent Roth/McGilchrist Building, left), and others to residential properties. The residential program, known as Special Assessment, was the first such offered in the nation, and allows a freeze of your property taxes for a period of ten years in order to direct those funds to approved restoration/rehabilitation projects. The program is extendable under certain circumstances, but after the eligible period is over, your property taxes return to the current market value at that time. As in any type of balloon-payment loan arrangement (even if you're actually loaning to yourself), the eventual financial impact should definitely be part of your overall project planning to avoid receiving an unwanted surprise at the end.

If you have any questions about any of the programs mentioned, or just want some technical advice for your next preservation project, please contact Joy at SHPO. She travels all across the state providing services to local governments and citizens, so she is often away from her Salem office. You may need to leave her a message or an email.  Rest assured, however, she will be getting back with you as soon as possible--even from out-of-town. You can contact her by phone at 503-986-0688, or email her at Joy.Sears@oregon.gov.

September 7, 2017 Episode.

Historic preservation encompasses managing historic resources for the benefit of both the resource and the public. We often think of grand old houses when we think of historic resources, but what about the history below street level? Yes, these finds are just as worthy of historic preservation--perhaps even more so, as they tell the story of the everyday lives of our predecessors.

As we've mentioned before, Salem's Historic Preservation Officer, Kimberli Fitzgerald, is obtaining a degree in archaeology and cultural resource management in order to provide even better service to the people of Salem. In the not-too-distant future, Salem engineers will be able to learn of any archaeological sites in areas proposed for development before the first shovel breaks ground--not during a private or public work project that must then come to an indefinite stand-still while the ground disruption is studied by state archaeology staff and mediated.

Kimberli met with us to share her experiences of this important but grueling training session at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site that took place during a record-breaking heat wave in the  Willamette Valley. The purpose of this field session put on by the National Park Service and Portland State University was to determine if there were any areas of archaeological significance in an area of the park the NPS wished to develop into a parking lot. Specifically, they were charged to look for evidence of a house belonging to a Capt. Ryan, either a sea captain or an Army captain, who was purported to live at the Fort circa 1874. The school was open to the public and even included a field day for youngsters of the area, since part of the curriculum focused on ways to interpret and present the finds to the public.  

On the day Kimberli discovered her largest artifact, a small, embossed metal lid, the Vancouver, WA Columbian newspaper was covering the "Dig" activities. Here is the link to the published article full of photos of artifact discoveries by other participants as well.  They finished out their field school with a public interpretation of an 1860's baseball game, a common event of the time at the Fort, in full costume. Can you imagine being in wool uniforms or full dresses with corsets and petticoats on such a hot day?  Fresh from the dig and still grimy, she admitted, Kimberli is shown here in full costume. At least she was able to find a bit of shade to enjoy the vintage proceedings.

Putting her Historic Preservation Officer hat back on, Kimberli provided an account of the recent happenings in above-ground preservation in the Salem area. She advised that the popular Toolbox Grants, $1000 matching grants to help owners of historic properties with preservation costs, has expanded to include interior work, with many of this applications for this second cycle focusing on seismic retrofitting. Traditionally funded by private party donations, the number of potential grants grew this year when the Salem City Council awarded the program $5000. For more information, check this link for the  Toolbox Grant  program.

One of Kimberli's favorite programs, Salem Heritage Neighborhoods, is is currently finalizing a year of work with the 2017 designee, SESNA. We will be inviting SESNA representatives back on the show soon to learn how this program has helped their neighborhood come together and showcase their unique heritage.  Soon we will learn the identity of the next neighborhood group to be designated as the 2018 Heritage Neighborhood.

More than half of Salem's 19 neighborhood organizations have potential historic resources within them, but no official surveys have ever been done. You might want to check out this map that shows all the potential historic resources in our city.  Check out this active map that shows Salem's growth from 1850 to 2012.

In closing, Kimberli reported that the Salem Culture & Heritage Forum has produced another of their Capital City Cornerstones videos, this one entitled Women of Mission. Here's the link to their first video, Oregon State Capital, if you didn't catch it before.

All in all, there is a lot of good stuff happening in our historic town!  

Posted by Deb Meaghers