HISTORIC PRESERVATION REPORT TO BE PRESENTED

Members of Cape Girardeau's Historic Preservation Commission are looking forward to Philip Thomason's report.

Thomason, a historic preservationist hired to carry out a preservation master plan for the city, will give the commission an update on his findings Wednesday night.

Those findings will help commission members decide what projects to take on next, said Brian Driscoll, commission vice chairman.

Thomason's contract was funded through a $20,000 state grant.

The commission will use the findings of Thomason's study to determine what to apply for in the next grant cycle, Driscoll said.

Thomason is conducting what he calls a "reconnaissance-level" survey of the city to identify potential historic sites and districts and possible threats to historic preservation.

"He's made some suggestions for things, and he'll be here next week to go over some of those suggestions," Driscoll said.

The meeting will give the commission a chance to "pick Thomason's brain about what our priorities should be," Driscoll said.

Thomason's survey will define the boundaries and what Driscoll calls the "context" of potential historic districts in Cape Girardeau, or how those areas relate to the city's overall history.

Then the study will identify individually significant properties "and show how each individual property relates to the whole history of the city," Driscoll said.

The results of Thomason's survey could suggest several follow-up projects, Driscoll said, including an intense survey of target areas within the city, probably its older neighborhoods, and site studies of individual properties.

At a public hearing in March, Thomason said he had identified two potential historic districts in the city: the downtown area and the residential area of Spanish Street north of the Mississippi River bridge.

Preserving historic sites offers a number of benefits, Thomason said, including economic development, cost savings through preserving existing infrastructure and improved quality of life.

City ordinance already provides for the creation of historic districts and the designation of local historic landmarks.

Cape Girardeau has 15 local historic landmarks and nine sites on the National Register of Historic Places.