Jackson to survey city's historic architecture

Residential and commercial buildings in more than a dozen square blocks in the center of Jackson will be included in a survey of the city’s historic architecture expected to begin next month.

“This is the first historic survey to be done by the City of Jackson in the recent past,” noted Jackson building and planning superintendent Janet Sanders.

Jackson’s Historic Preservation Commission is required to create and maintain a list of “historically significant” properties in the city in order for Jackson to keep its Certified Local Government (CLG) status, Sanders said.

“Two major benefits of being designated a Certified Local Government by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources are that it enables the city to have technical training related to historic preservation as well as priority over non-CLG communities for historic preservation grant funding,” she explained.

Sanders, along with Crag Milde of the Historic Preservation Commission and Jackson Alderman David Reiminger, interviewed three consulting firms for the project. On the basis of those interviews and a review of proposal documents, the preservation commission is recommending the city hire RDG Planning and Design of Omaha, Nebraska, to do the survey at a cost of $25,000.

A grant from the National Park Service and managed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources will pay 60%, or $15,000, of the project cost. The remaining $10,000 will be paid by Jackson and is covered by the city budget.

Sanders said she expects the Board of Aldermen to consider the contract with RDG at next week’s board meeting.

The survey area encompasses the uptown Jackson business district and is generally bordered by East Monroe Street on the south, Ohio Street on the east, Florence Street to the north and Missouri Street to the west.

Sanders said she is aware of two other architectural surveys in Jackson over the past 40 years.

“The city had an intensive architectural survey of properties on Cherry Street in 1984 in preparation for a community development block grant to improve those properties,” she said. “And a private survey was done in 2006 as part of an application to establish the Jackson Uptown Commercial Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.”

The 2006 survey, Sanders said, allowed property owners to apply for tax credits for renovation projects in the district.

The new survey is expected to be completed by July and will include access to an geographic information system (GIS), which will allow online access to an interactive map providing information about each property in the study.

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