North City closer to National Registry

North City closer to National Registry



PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 07/01/09

A state committee on Tuesday approved a National Historic District application for St. Augustine's own North City -- where Uptown Saturday Night's magic happens.

The approval came Tuesday from the five-member Florida National Registration Review Board in Tallahassee, which examines applications and packs them up to send to Washington, D.C., for final confirmation.

City Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline accompanied the application Tuesday and sat through the voting.

"The committee was very complimentary (about the application)," she said. "They liked the district and the area, and they clearly understood the district was cohesive in the historical sense."

The district stretches from West Castillo Drive north to Old Mission Avenue. On the west is Ponce de Leon Boulevard and on the east is San Marco Avenue.

Other National Historic Districts in St. Johns County include:

* The Abbott Tract, added 1983.

* St. Augustine, added 1970.

* Lincolnville, added 1991.

* Model Land Company, added 1983.

* Castillo de San Marcos, added 1966.

* Fort Matanzas National Monument, added 1966.

* St. Augustine Alligator Farm, added 1992.

Sikes-Kline said two additional St. Augustine neighborhoods, Nelmar Terrace and Fullerwood, are also seeking National Historic District designation.

"I hope (North City) will be approved by the end of the year, when the new tax period will begin," she said.

The City Commission, with Sikes-Kline making the motion, recently approved extending the tax exemption time on historic properties from five years to 10 years.

"The county needs to match that 10," she said. "I hope it is possible to have all districts (approved) and eligible for tax abatement."

Paul Weaver, a historic preservation consultant, said he'd canvassed homes in that area in the early 1980s with St. Augustine historians Bill Adams and David Nolan.

"We saw the neighborhood had potential for being a historic district. Now, we're glad to see, after all that time, that it passed," Weaver said.

He said the national designation gives North City a measure of protection, such as being spared from losing property to any expansion of U.S. 1, for example. And it could offer federal tax incentives for businesses, he said.

"It gives the neighborhood recognition and credibility as a historic area," Weaver said. "(Residents of North City are) aware of this process and are pretty excited about it.

"This is an area that in the last 20 years has come alive."

Dan Sullivan of Water Street said the designation "gives (North City) some bragging rights. It helps community spirit and makes you feel good to live here."

City officials estimated that home owners in North City who make $200,000 worth of renovations can save $1,000 per year in taxes for 10 years on those improvements.

Sidebar

The National Register of Historic Places, authorized by the National Park Service in 1966, is the nation's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture worthy of preservation.

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