DATE: March 16, 2017
TO: Members of the Northfield Heritage Preservation Commission
FROM: Scott Tempel, City Planner
Title
Recommend expansion of Northfield Historic District
Body
SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUESTED:
The HPC is requested to commence the Heritage Site Designation process to incorporate the changes to the Northfield Historic District recommended in last year's resurvey project. The designation process involves a Type 4 review process with review by the Planning Commission and approval by the City Council.
BACKGROUND:
In February of 2015, the HPC applied for grant funds from the State Historic Society to update the survey of the Northfield Historic District. The grant request was to update survey information for all buildings in the Historic District and to evaluate the buildings in the adjacent commercial area to see if others could be included in the district or if an additional district could be created.
A $12,000 Certified Local Government (CLG) grant was awarded by the Historic Society with the initial application. An $8,000 grant was requested from the Minnesota Historical & Cultural Heritage grant program (commonly known as Legacy Grants) as the required match for the CLG grant. This Legacy grant application has been submitted three times and has been denied each time for varying reasons.
At its December 8, 2015, meeting, the City Council agreed to allow the $8,000 required match to be taken from the Planning Division consultant line item in the 2016 Community Development budget to allow the project to move forward.
An RFP for consultant services was issued on January 6, 2016, to consultants listed on the MHS list. It was also published in the Minnesota History Local News E-Newsletter. With a subcommittee recommendation, the HPC awarded the contract to Landscape Research at its February meeting. A contract was signed and the survey work began in March.
This project followed guidelines established by the Secretary of the Interior f...
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