FEMA meeting tonight to discuss historic properties

Area residents can see some of the Cedar Rapids properties that are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places during a meeting tonight.

Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives are also accepting suggestions for projects that will mitigate some of the damage caused to historic properties after the Floods of 2008.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, at the Second Avenue entrance to the Veterans Memorial Building on May's Island.

FEMA could fund multiple projects to offset some of the damage to historic properties, such as building demolition, that is funded with federal money, said Eric Wieland, branch director of environmental and historic preservation for FEMA.

Wieland noted that the mitigation is not for damage caused by the flood itself and is only for damage to properties on or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Jeff Carr, FEMA's lead historic preservation specialist, said the agency doesn't think in terms of dollar amounts when it comes to historic preservation and so could not say how much FEMA would fund in Cedar Rapids.

Suggestions were taken during a lunch hour meeting today.

Already, the proposed list contains almost 50 ideas that FEMA could fund.

Those include moving or salvaging flooded homes that are in historic districts, offering workshops, taking a comprehensive historic survey of the city, and more elaborate endeavors, such as restoring the Sinclair smokestack.

Wieland said FEMA won't fund all of the projects and other ideas could replace those already on the list.

Once suggestions are submitted, FEMA will whittle down the list with input from the State Historic Preservation Office and other groups.

Since June 2008, FEMA's Environmental and Historic Preservation branch has evaluated more than 9,000 structures in Iowa for eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, including more than 4,300 in Cedar Rapids.

Statewide, more than 600 structures were determined eligible statewide for listing in the register.

In Cedar Rapids more than 200 properties were identified in flood-affected areas as individually eligible for the register or as part of historic districts.

List of potential historic preservation projects

This is a partial list of proposed historic preservation projects. FEMA will not fund all of the projects and the list isn't all-inclusive. Residents can submit other ideas to: Iowa Recovery Center, 4149 120th St., Urbandale, Iowa 50320, or e-mail: FEMA-IRC-EHP@dhs.gov

Moving/salvaging/rehabbing flooded homes: One of the ways to preserve a historic home is to move the entire home. If a home cannot be saved, items of a historic nature may be salvaged.

• Vondracek houses on Third Street (1221-1228, 1301, 1305 Third Street SE)

• Brick houses in Czech Village

• Czech cottages in Czech Village

• St. Wenceslaus workers housing - Nomination of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)-eligible “St. Wenceslaus Historic District” first identified in the 1995 Cedar Rapids survey and subsequent Residential Neighborhoods Multiple Property Documentation done back in 2000. Completion of a separate NRHP nomination would be appropriate.

• Private home siding removal - Designation of a certain number of contributing private residences in historic districts for removal of synthetic sidings and return to original wood siding and shingle finishes. This could include some of the Czech cottages in the areas of the expanded Bohemian Commercial Historic District now being surveyed.

Moving/salvaging/rehabbing flooded commercial buildings: One of the ways to preserve a historic building is to move the entire building. If a building cannot be saved, items of a historic nature may be salvaged.

• White Elephant (1010 Third St. SE) - rehabilitation and possible elevation of this contributing frame commercial building in the Bohemian Commercial Historic District.

• Roundhouse

• Sokol Hall (415 Third St. SE)- rehabilitation of this individually eligible (not NRHP listed) commercial building in Downtown associated with the Czech Sokol organization.

• St. James United Methodist Church

• Sinclair smokestack stabilization/restoration

• Gas stations near Metro

• Materials salvage from Sinclair

• Peoples Bank - Louis Sullivan bank design and possible amended NRHP nomination for national level significance to make it eligible for special grant program.

• Coventry Gardens/Gringos facade removal

• Fire Station by E Avenue - 423 Fifth St. NW - Determination of reuse plan for this NRHP-eligible former fire station owned by the City of Cedar Rapids; possible relocation of building.

• Mother Mosque

• Gas station by E Avenue

• Great America Furniture Mart - Adaptive reuse plan and National Register nomination for this NRHP-eligible property to support state and federal ITC eligibility; exterior improvement grant.

• P. Hach Building (1326 Second Street SE) - Adaptive reuse plan and exterior improvement grant

• Smid Hardware Store Building (219 14th Ave. SE) Adaptive reuse plan and exterior improvement grant

• Martinek & Sons Hardware Store (124 15th Ave. SE) Adaptive reuse plan and exterior improvement grant

• Lesinger Block (1313-1317 Third St. SE) Adaptive reuse plan and exterior improvement grant

Education

• Signs for local and National Register historic districts

• Window Repair Workshop

•Green rehabilitation Public Relations.

• Display and collaboration of architectural plans from the H/C's collection

• Donovan Rypkema, historic preservation & real estate consultant, speaker for advantages of National Register designations for commercial and residential historic districts; economic benefits of NRHP listings

• Memorials along river walk

• Housing stock guide

• Restoration standards

• Plaques for historic houses-significance, preservation

• Monthly newsletter

Inventories

• Vernon Heights NRHP intensive historical and architectural survey and nomination

• Grant Wood District NRHP including portions of A, B, and C Avenues NE east of Coe College

• Bethel Church NRHP

• Comprehensive Historic Survey

• Expanding existing districts - 2nd & Third Avenue District and Redmond Park District

• Curation and inventory for History Center's architectural drawings collection

• City Market building

• Salvage barn

• Entry gates to the city