County government certified by National Park Service
Move will give county access to grants for historic preservation
Posted: June 3, 2014 - 12:01am
By STUART KORFHAGE
stuart.korfhage@staugustine.com
A recent decision by the National Park Service could open more avenues to grant money for local historic preservation projects.
Historic Resources Manager Robin Moore of St. Johns County said the NPS’s approval to certify the county government is something he’s worked toward for years, and he’s eager to see the community reap the benefits.
“It gives us (access to) a pot of money that we have not had access to in the past,” Moore said. “It’s a program to basically partner with local and state governments in historic preservation.”
Money for historic preservation is gathered at the federal level and then transferred to individual states, which distribute the money to various projects.
Those grants, from the Historic Preservation Fund, are not available until local governments meet certain criteria.
Moore said what he basically had to do was show that St. Johns County has policies in place to enable and encourage historic preservation. Part of that was adding his position in 2005.
“The federal and state government acknowledge we have infrastructure in place to make sure it’s done properly,” Moore said. “Being certified lets all other governments know that your government meets certain criteria for historic preservation.
“It really places the decision about what is historically significant at the local level.”
Added NPS Director Jonathan B. Jarvis in a release: “As a Certified Local Government, St. Johns County, Florida, has made a commitment to historic preservation and protecting what makes their community special. Their efforts will not only preserve the social, cultural, and ethnic heritage that enriches America, but can serve as an important economic engine by creating jobs and spurring heritage tourism in their community.”
Megan J. Brown, Certified Local Government Program National Coordinator for the NPS, said it isn’t just money that local governments get, but also training opportunities and technical support.
She said it’s always exciting to see new governments become certified because that shows local interest in preservation.
“Really, preservation in our country happens at the local level,” she said. “Without that, we will lose our history.”
To become certified, local governments must meet four qualifications, Brown said. Each one must establish a commission to let the public know what it’s trying to preserve, maintain a public inventory of historic sites, participate in the national historic registry program and follow state and local preservation laws.
As part of the application process, Moore had to rewrite some county ordinances to reflect the county’s commitment to preservation. He said there wasn’t any change in policy, but only a change in the specific wording.
“In changing our ordinances, basically all I did was write in what we already do,” Moore said.
Getting certified has been a long process, Moore said, starting even before he was hired.
Since the county has what is considered to be the nation’s old city, St. Augustine, history is obviously an important element to the community and the tourism business. Moore said there has been a huge amount of help inside and outside of county government to make historic preservation a priority.
“There’s been a lot of community effort, lots of volunteers,” he said. “That’s been happening over the last decade and a half. They’ve done a lot of work and made a big difference.”
Now that the certification process is finished, Moore said he can concentrate on what kind of grants he would like to pursue.
One of his current projects, which is seeking grant money, is to complete a series of oral histories in St. Augustine. Moore said the project would include interviews with 25 older members of the West Augustine community in order to develop a record of its past. It’s a portion of the population that doesn’t have the same benefit of physical documents that others do.
“I really hope we get funded,” Moore said.
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