GRANT TO FUND HISTORIC PLAN

A state grant to fund a preservation plan for the city of Cape Girardeau could be the first step in creating historic districts in the city.

The $20,000 grant from the Missouri Historic Preservation Program to Cape Girardeau's Historic Preservation Commission will pay for hiring a preservationist to put the plan together, said Brian Driscoll, vice chair of the city commission.

"They would come in and look at all the historic resources that are here and kind of make an assessment of what we have and then list some priorities for work that should be done in the future," Driscoll said.

In the past, he said, "we've done a National Register place here and a local landmark there, but we haven't really looked at the big picture or set specific goals and plans."

The plan will help the commission be more prepared when someone proposes demolishing, or substantially renovating, a historic building, Driscoll said, because the structure's significance will already have been put on file.

"I guess this plan will give us a chance to be a little more proactive in what we do instead of having to respond to potential emergencies," he said.

Kent Bratton, Cape Girardeau's city planner, said, "To date nobody's really developed a comprehensive list of the historic sites in Cape Girardeau."

The sites that have been designated as local historic landmarks or placed on the National Historic Register have been identified through individual surveys.

"A large part of the city hasn't been surveyed," he said.

The grant for hiring the preservationist is the first in a series of grants the commission plans to seek for more in-depth studies and preservation projects, Driscoll said.

The plan will help identify areas that could eventually be designated historic districts, he said.

Establishing such districts "is always a goal. I think the commission itself has that goal," Driscoll said.

Bratton said identifying potential historic districts will be "one element of this plan."

"We've had limited interest in doing that so far," he said.

The city's current ordinance would require that 75 percent of the property owners in a designated area agree to establishing the historic district, Bratton said.

"It'll take some doing to get one," he said.

If historic districts are set up, he said, they will probably be small ones. "I don't think you could do one large one," he said.

Commissioners plan to have awarded a contract by the end of February, and work should start on the citywide assessment in March.

"The first thing that we requested that any contractor would do is hold at least one public meeting, maybe two, and that is to get input on how the city should deal with historic properties in the future," Driscoll said.

He said it's important to get input from people who will be impacted by land-use decisions "whether that be developers, the city itself, landowners, business owners, everyone will be encouraged to attend."

The final report, with a proposed plan and priorities outlined, will be submitted by June 1999, Driscoll said.

Surveying the city will be an in-depth process, he said.

"They're going to look over the entire city. I hope they're going to also consider potential archaeological sites, because I think that's one of the aspects of preservation that gets overlooked. No one thinks about what's underground. There may potentially be archaeological sites in the city," Driscoll said.

Preserving old buildings is one way to understand the people who built them, he said.

"The thing that I like to stress is that structures and buildings can teach us a lot about the people who lived here," Driscoll said. "Buildings in themselves are important in as far as they can tell us about the people who lived and worked in them. Ultimately, it's the people who are important in the historic view, but the buildings can provide us with a way of learning about those people."