Efforts to bolster historic preservation begun

Boulder City is continuing to make historic preservation a top priority.

At its meeting on Tuesday, City Council introduced a bill proposing to amend its historic resources zoning chapter to make it eligible to be a Certified Local Government program.

“It puts our ordinance into line with the National Park Service standard,” said Alan Goya, chair of the city’s Historic Preservation Committee. “It gets us all on the same page.”

By adhering to Park Service standards, the city would have access to grant money for historic preservation through the state.

The National Park Service administers the Certified Local Government program with the State Historic Preservation Offices. Once a city or community is certified and agrees to follow federal and state requirements, it has access to benefits such as the grants.

“We believe if we obtain this designation, it will help us as we move forward in developing a historic preservation plan,” said Al Noyola, city manager. “Benefits of the CLG program include access to state funding from the Federal Historic Preservation Fund, as well as technical assistance, guidance and more.”

Goya said the city is already doing most of what it needs to become certified because it has a historic preservation ordinance and a historic preservation committee. One thing that needs to change would be how the city moves forward with its historic registry.

“Any additions will have to be judged on their own merit,” he said. “Not every building in a historic district would automatically be historic.”

Goya also thinks this opportunity fits in well with the city’s strategic plan, as historic preservation is one of its top goals.

Boulder City Communications Manager Lisa LaPlante unveiled the implementation strategy to council Tuesday and one thing it includes is adding new historic preservation districts and amending existing codes to achieve historic preservation goals.

“It falls into the implementation of the strategic plan,” Goya said.

Another element of preservation Goya said he is looking forward to is reinventorying all the city’s historic assets.

“It’s important for us to know what we have,” he said. “We need to ask the question how important is it to our story and will it change our story if we take it away?”

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.