District 5 – Remembering Historic Preservation in Planning and Downtown Revitalization Efforts
submitted by Kristina Harpst, District 5 Director
In 2007, the American Planning Association launched its Great Places in America initiative, a program celebrating places of exemplary character, quality and planning. Most, if not all, of APA’s 2007 designated Great Places, have a common bond—each has a strong historic preservation ethic; and employs this ethic as a foundation for downtown revitalization and community development efforts. With May being Historic Preservation Month, this is a timely topic.
In Georgia, downtown revitalization has been greatly supported by State and Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives which, in 2006, spurred $74 million dollars in private investment. Recognizing the value of strong historic preservation tax incentives, Representative Allen Peake of Macon sponsored House Bill 851, which strengthens the state tax credit for the rehabilitation of historic properties. HB 851 has passed both the House and Senate and is now awaiting Governor Purdue’s signature. The successful passage of HB 851 will be especially beneficial to smaller Georgia communities, many with limited resources, to garner momentum and support for downtown revitalization projects.
While many small, mid-size and rural middle Georgia communities are just now beginning to tap into historic preservation tax incentives, they have been proactively using other historic preservation tools and techniques to spur greater investment in the downtown commercial centers. These communities recognize that historic preservation is not about halting growth or preserving a moment in time, but rather about utilizing the buildings and structures that have shaped their community identity to achieve places that are vibrant, adaptable and sustainable.
The following are only a few of middle Georgia communities that are utilizing the historic built environment as an essential component of downtown revitalization strategies. The Cities of Forsyth, Fort Valley and Hawkinsville are all either Better Hometowns or Main Street communities and none of them has a city planner on staff; the communities rely on the support and efforts of mayors and city council members, historic preservation commissions, zoning officials, chambers and development authorities and dedicated citizens.
 City of Forsyth (Monroe County): In 2006, Forsyth was named one of Georgia’s first Signature Communities, a designation that is accompanied by limited funding to complete community projects. The city installed Wi-Fi on the courthouse square and adopted corridor overlay design guidelines to promote compatible infill construction and to protect the character of the city’s entrance corridors (which are lined with historic structures). The city was also named a Certified Local Government in 2007 and is diligently working toward the establishment of a local commercial historic district and developing historic district design guidelines.
 City of Fort Valley (Peach County): The City of Fort Valley has a number of downtown improvement projects, all related to historic structures, that were either recently completed or currently underway including: the rehabilitation of the Austin Theatre into a community venue for performing arts, meetings, and events; the Evans Building, located on a prominent downtown corner rehabilitated for use by Fort Valley State University; and the freight depot, currently undergoing rehabilitation with the assistance of Transportation Enhancement funding. To maintain its current downtown redevelopment momentum the city is in the process of listing its downtown commercial and industrial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, this will enable building owners within the district to tap into the State and Federal historic preservation tax incentives, a resource currently unavailable to downtown property owners.
 City of Hawkinsville (Pulaski County): It began with the Opera House rehabilitation in 2000 which led to streetscape improvements, listing of the Commercial and Industrial District on the National Register and an overall renewed interest in downtown. During the winter of 2007, the city designated a local historic commercial district. Since then a number of downtown buildings have either made signage or façade improvements or have begun complete renovations. Most exciting of all is the work at the former Pillowtex Cotton Mill, located at the edge of downtown overlooking the Ocmulgee River. A private development corporation is working closely with the city to rehabilitate the historic mill into loft apartments and a community market using historic perseveration and low-income housing tax incentives.
These three success stories are indicative of how essential historic preservation is to planning and downtown revitalization efforts. As internationally recognized real estate and economic development expert, Donovan Rypkema points out, he “is unable to identify a single example of a sustained success story in downtown revitalization where historic preservation wasn’t a key component of that strategy; [whereas], examples of very expensive failures in downtown revitalization have nearly all had the destruction of historic buildings as a major element.” |
