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This Old House Magazine Recognizes Wellington

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:28:40 +0000

Wellington has been recognized by This Old House Magazine as having one of the Best Old House Neighborhoods 2010 in the country. The folks at Main Street Wellington certainly deserve to be commended for their contribution to their community and making such recognition possible.

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Rehabilitation Tax Credit for historic schools introduced

Frank Quinn — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:00:27 +0000

Representatives in both the Senate and House have introduced legislation to amend the federal tax credit, allowing Qualified Rehabilitation Expenses incurred in the rehabilitation of historic schools to be eligible for the 20% rehab tax credit. For example, if this legislation is passed and signed into law by President Obama, a $5 million rehab project of a historic school building in Ohio would only cost the school district and taxpayers $4 million. What would the effect be in Ohio, if this legislation is passed?

The preservation and continued use of more historic schools in the state
With 20% tax credit eligibility, school rehabilitation projects would be put on a more competitive footing with new construction projects, demonstrating a much better economic value for the taxpayers in the school district
School rehabilitation (as opposed to new construction) is a more labor intensive practice, and $1 million spent to rehabilitate schools creates more jobs than $1 million spent to construct new schools
School rehabilitation demonstrates a school district’s conviction to invest in and maintain its most valuable assets, as opposed to wasting its existing assets by demolishing them
School rehabilitation shows a school district’s savvy in understanding & teaching its students that green practices extend far beyond placing recycling bins in the school cafeteria (indeed, preserving historic schools demonstrates perhaps the ultimate level of environmental responsibility)

Accountants Novogradac & Company LLP maintain a web site you can access to keep up-to-date on the latest legislation involving a host of different tax credit incentives that affect historic buildings. You can access their tax credit information here.

A brief fact sheet outlining the need and reasoning behind amending current tax legislation is included here.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on the status of this legislation as we learn more.

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America in Bloom: Planting Pride (and an Athens conference note!)

Frank Quinn — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:54 +0000

Do you want to make your community a better place to live, work, play, and visit, while increasing civic pride and property values? If so, then you need to check out America in Bloom.

A nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting beautification programs through the use of flowers, plants, and trees (in addition to other environmental & lifestyle enhancements) while also encouraging community involvement, AIB recently announced its February 28 registration deadline to participate in the 2010 community program.

Participating communities receive a two-day consultation with judges. The judges develop an extensive written evaluation providing feedback on the community’s successful efforts, and suggestions for further initiatives. To date, America in Bloom has assisted more than 170 communities in 38 states to bring out the best in their visual qualities. In some towns, the annual America in Bloom competition has become a way of life, as volunteers look forward to working together on visible improvements.

Contest Chairman Jack Clasen, PhD, summed it up best when he said, “I’m excited about the 2010 program because we have assembled the best team of experienced, professional judges in the history of the program.”

For more information about the program, or to register before the February 28 deadline, go to http://www.americainbloom.org/. Good luck to all of the participating communities, and may the greenest, most beautiful communities win!

Special Conference Note:
We’re also pleased to let you know that Rick Webb of Logan, Ohio will be presenting “America in Bloom: Planting Pride in your community” at the Heritage Ohio conference in Athens this June. Rick will share the process of becoming an America in Bloom community, touching on AIB’s impact in cities throughout the country & how the America in Bloom program and Heritage Ohio work together to enhance those cities. Stay tuned to our web site and blog for further conference updates!

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Check Out Chattan Loch

Jeff Siegler — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:56:18 +0000

The restaurant recently opened in downtown Bellefontaine in a renovated warehouse. The liquor license was possible through the new revitalization district liquor permit legislation. The restaurant’s owner is committed to community involvement, environmental protection, purchasing local and employing and training the developmentally disable. This is a great success story and embodies so much of the spirit and thinking that Ohio cities and towns must embrace. Check out the story in the Columbus Dispatch http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/01/15/GOODHELP.ART_ART_01-15-10_B1_I6GABIK.html

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Heritage Ohio Recieves USDA ARRA Funding

Joyce Barrett — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:25:52 +0000

Heritage Ohio is happy to announce that we have received a $99,000 grant from the USDA to provide technical assistance to business people in targeted rural communities. Our program “Retail is Detail” provides market analysis and individual business recommendations to participants to fine-tune their strategy for succeeding in bringing more more jobs and business to Ohio’s rural communities.

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Green Historic Preservation Symposium

Joyce Barrett — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:14:28 +0000

Yesterday in Indianapolis I attended a symposium sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA Region 5) entitled “Green Historic Preservation Symposium: What Works, What Doesn’t, What Should Change” What I learned was that the “green-sustainability” constituency from the professional environmental sector knows little about historic preservation and the historic preservation community knows little about the environmental sector – a generality to be sure, but the two groups are finding how working together would be very advantageous. Hopefully the Department of Energy (DOE) people will be brought into the mix too.

A few things I learned yesterday:

1) As of April 22, 2010 any renovation or painting to a house built before 1978 will require that hired contractors must be certified to deal with lead-based paint. http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovation.htm

2) I had seen Energy Star ratings on appliances in the store but didn’t fully understand the scope of the Energy Star program, visit http://www.energystar.gov/

3) There are Energy Efficiency Block Grants through DOE which perhaps have been focused towards industry- but could be used for larger commercial buildings (theaters come to mind) http://www.eecbg.energy.gov/grantalloc.html

4) A database to be researching before starting any building improvement or rehabilitation project shows a multitude of programs being offered in Ohio http://www.dsireusa.org/

5) I think a lot of us talk about embodied energy- but remember we have access to a calculator—share this tool with the uninitiated. http://thegreenestbuilding.org

Keep spreading the word- the greenest building is the one already built!

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Tax Credit Workshop, March 19, 2010 – Mount Vernon

Joyce Barrett — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:51:20 +0000

Register for our next Tax Credit workshop to be held in Mount Vernon March 19, 2010. Learn from Ohio’s experts on utilizing tax credits to make your historic building project a reality.

Download the registration form here.

Knox County Courthouse

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Lots to Lose: Worshop Spaces as Community Assets

admin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:23:50 +0000

St. Stanislaus Church

Lots to Lose: Worship Spaces as Community Assets

Description: With tourism becoming increasingly popular, communities that have something unique to exhibit, like a historic house museum, district, cemetery or battlefield, have a competitive edge with neighboring communities. Local commerce through historic buildings keeps the community unique and supports the economic base of the community. Amongst these buildings, sit the historic churches that play a similar role in providing services to the community. As catastrophe response professionals, we have worked with many churches whose sole purpose during the recovery was to continue servicing the community and alleviating their needs during the devastation rather than repairing their own building. While religious building’s lies within a community, a community also lies within the building. Congregations create stability in the lives of its members. They are employers for members and create networking opportunities for others to locate work in the community. They also offer schooling and even some include day care services. If a church is lost from a community or has recovery efforts hampered following a disaster, what would the community lose? Feeding programs, education programs, places of gathering, and even employment. Historic sacred spaces offer a community a sense of place, community stability, and refuge in times of need.

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Historic Windows can be more Energy Efficient than Replacement Windows

Joyce Barrett — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:51:22 +0000

There has been a great deal of angst in the preservation community as the government, media and general public banter misinformation regarding incentives for replacing windows as an smart energy saving move.

DO NOT be mislead.

There are, of course, cheap, usually windows of the past 50 years, that should go. But old growth lumber, old windows, are often a much better product, than what is available today. Even the best window salesman will be honest about that.

DO NOT replace good windows with new inferior ones.

Visit the Ten Top Reasons to SAVE your Wood Windows. And for a better understanding, visit this excellent site by California State Parks which has several technical papers with the accurate information regarding historic windows.

You might also want to watch the Editor of Preservation Magazine’s segment from Fox News this morning, watch here.

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Ohio Department of Development’s William Murdock to present at Heritage Ohio Conference June 2010

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:48:40 +0000

Programs and tools that can catalyze Ohio’s urban opportunity.

Take a look at the opportunities Ohio cities have when dealing with a shrinking population, changes in demographics that favor higher density development and the evolving consumer driven demand for urban living

Understand the role of existing state tools/programs like the Clean Ohio Fund and Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program maximizing the above mentioned opportunities.

Discussion tools that could further this overarching vision.