Uptown looks to become historic district

Uptown Creston might be joining the list of national historic districts thanks to a recently awarded Certified Local Government (CLG) grant. Creston Historic Preservation Commission Chairman Jane Briley explained to Creston City Council what being a historic district would mean for Creston.

“We received it to write the applications for the downtown area to make it a historic district,” Briley said. “There’s three major benefits that we talked about. Tax credits ... city reputation ... and creating building design guidelines.”

Briley said anyone who owns a building in the district that wants to do rehabilitation to their building can get tax credits approved by the National Park Service.

“Twenty percent of the income tax credits are available for rehabilitation of historic income-producing buildings, which are determined by the secretary of the interior, and 1,200 projects each year are done to rehabilitate historic buildings across the country,” Briley said.

Creston has 58 of its original 75 surviving buildings that contribute to the district. In order to apply for income tax credits, buildings owners have to present information on the significance of the building and what it will look like after renovations. They must also submit the condition of the building at the time of work and submit the project for analyzation under the standards of certified rehabilitation.

In terms of improving Creston’s reputation, Briley spoke with building owners from other area historic districts to get insight.

“They said, ‘one thing that everyone says when they come to town is our buildings look so nice.’ They like that it helps draw more people to the area,” Briley said. “We have a good reputation when we have nice looking buildings.”

Additionally, Briley said being listed as a historic district will improve the likelihood of receiving future grants.

The third main benefit Briley talked to the council about was providing a basis for the city to create building design guidelines.

“The Iowa Economic Development Association has really kind of indicated that we need to start looking into that, trying to get design guidelines for our buildings in town,” Briley said. “This would be one way we could start thinking about doing that while we do the renovations. Greenfield and Osceola already have the guidelines for this. They have done a downtown facade grant like we have and they’re allowed to have more grants and the grants are given to the building owners.”

While many see becoming a historic district as a good thing, business owners may be worried what this means for future construction. However, Southern Iowa Council of Governments (SICOG) senior planner Jeremy Rounds said they have nothing to fear.

“If you have a building that’s in the district that’s a historic district and your building is contributing, you have the benefits we just talked about, but there is nothing in that language of the district or anything that requires anything from the building owner,” Rounds said. “They can totally ignore it. They can do any renovations they wish to do. The district does not limit them in any way.”

Creston is still in the nomination phase of becoming a national historic district. Once the nomination and application is completed, a state level process review begins with the Historic Preservation Office.

Once passed there, the State Nominations Review Committee determines if the nomination is worthy of recommendation to the National Park Service for listing. If approved there, it is submitted to the National Park Service for final review and listing.