Local historic preservation officials want to make it cost less to fix up older homes in two parts of South Bend.
If you live in a locally established historical district and you want to repaint your home’s exterior or replace the roof or windows, local ordinance requires those changes to be historically accurate. If they aren’t, you face fines that act as the proverbial stick.
But what about the carrot?
Hoping to offer more positive incentives to preserve our history, a few years ago the Historic Preservation Commission for South Bend and St. Joseph County started encouraging its districts to also seek placement on the National Register of Historic Places.
That status can qualify home improvement projects for federal grants and tax credits, for interior projects also.
"We're all stick and no carrot," said Ross Van Overberghe, the city’s historic preservation administrator. "So it's very hard to convince a group of homeowners in an area that they should become a local historic district, and essentially have to ask for permission to change the exterior of their properties, and yet we don't have any incentives to help them."
At its meeting Monday evening, the commission will consider seeking national status for the Lincolnway East and North St. Joseph-Riverbend historic districts. If approved, they’re forwarded to the state of Indiana for review, before final determination by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
