Public Meeting on Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Home

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Home. Credit: DDM.

Discover Downtown Middlesboro is continuing efforts to transform the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Home in to a community asset. Built in 1911, this structure has served as housing, a hospital, doctors office, and had a number of apartments at one time. The building has been vacant for several years now awaiting a complete rehabilitation. 

Public notice:

Discover Downtown Middlesboro is preparing an application for the US EPA Brownfield Cleanup Grant program. Their application is for the remediation of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Home at 2020-2026 Cumberland Ave. A copy of this grant proposal, including the draft Analysis of Brownfield Cleanup Alternatives (ABCA), is available for public review and comment at City Hall, the Public Library, and on their website  http://www.downtownmiddlesboro.org. A public meeting will be held at 2008 Cumberland Ave, commencing at 7:00 P.M. the 9th day of December, 2014. Documents are available for review at the DDM office in City Hall and the Public Library. Comments may be made at the public meeting or by contacting Discover Downtown Middlesboro in writing atdowntownmiddlesboro@gmail.com or via post at P.O. Box 1156, Middlesboro, KY 40965.

Supporting documents:

• Analysis of Brownfield Cleanup Alternatives
• CLEANUP GRANT PROPOSAL, FOR THE ELKS HOME, CITY OF MIDDLESBORO, KENTUCKY, Version 1.0 (as of December 5, 2014)
• Revised Middlesboro Cost Tables
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

We Need Your Help to Preserve the Elks Home in Downtown Middlesborough!

Members of the DDM Design Committee in front of the Elks Home. From left to right: Blake Bowling, Chair; Katie Bisceglia-Stotts; Steven Sharp; Elizabeth Barry; Isaac Kremer; Tara Pope; and Aaron Fraustro. Photo credit: Emily Sharp.

Middlesborough is a leading the competition in a statewide contest called "This is My Old Kentucky Home." to identify places that Kentuckians feel at "home." Community leaders submitted the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Home. Originally built in 1911, this impressive four-story brick building served as a convalescent home of the Elks order for a little less than a decade. After that it became a hospital where many people living in Middlesborough today were born.

Craig Potts, KHC executive director
& state historic preservation officer.
Credit: City of Louisville.

“Historic places matter to Kentuckians. We want to invite people to share how and why they value Kentucky’s historic places, and build interest in the reuse and preservation of historic buildings,” said Craig Potts, KHC executive director and state historic preservation officer. “We want people to be able to tell their own story about how historic buildings and places make them feel.”

Discover Downtown Middlesboro acquired the building in December 2012. Ever since then this non-profit organization has worked hard to build support for its restoration. Recently grants to assist with this effort were secured from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Certified Local Government program administered by the Kentucky Heritage Council. Additional applications are pending before the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection to assist with cleanup of hazardous substances in the building. If successful, we hope to transform this vacant eyesore into a beautifully restored mixed-use building with housing and offices on the upper floors and with retail and restaurant use on the ground floor.

DDM Executive Director said of the contest, "Middlesborough won a similar contest held nationally by CommunityMatters in September 2013. We're confident that the community will rally together and we can win again, while highlighting one of the most distinctive buildings in Eastern Kentucky and our Commonwealth."

The Elks Home will also be a focal point of the upcoming Better Block Middlesborough event on Saturday, May 10. Storefronts will be brought back to life through the installation of a pop-up museum, signage, and exhibits. Additionally, several other temporary interventions will take place on this block including a pop-up cafe located at our Makers Market, a landscaped walkway near the middle of the block, and other improvements to plant the seed for long-term change. Numerous state officials and experts in community and economic development will be present including  Kitty Dougoud, Kentucky Main Street Program director; Herb Petitjean with the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection; Della Rucker from the Wise Economy Workshop and author of The Local Economy Revolution; and Bill Lutz, Community Development Director for Piqua, Ohio.

In celebration of National Historic Preservation Month we ask that you do your part and go out and help us save the Elks Home! Visit the Kentucky Heritage Council page on Facebook, click the "Enter to Win!" button and vote. You can vote once a day between now and May 23. We invite you to attend the Better Block event on May 10 and get involved firsthand. Please share this message and important project with your family, friends, and neighbors. Thanks!


Step-by-Step Instructions.


Instructions for how to vote follow. You may also be able to just follow this link and click vote at the top of the page: http://woobox.com/h4r4qg/vote/for/2444612.

1. Visit the Kentucky Heritage Council page at https://www.facebook.com/KYSHPO and click the "Enter to Win! / Photo Contest" button.

2. On the contest page click "Vote."

3. Find the Elks Home on that page and select vote in the bottom right corner. Once you vote the box will be filled in green. You can vote once a day between now and May 23. So please go back and vote MULTIPLE TIMES!

30 Ideas in 30 Days: #20 Temporary Improvements Encourage Historic Preservation Planning

30 Ideas in 30 Days

For the first ten days we've focused on ideas that deal with streets and public spaces. Now we are shifting gears to talk about the built environment and those things that define a space and make it welcoming to people.

Andrew Howard of Better Block. Credit: "The Better Block Project San Antonio TX," YouTube.

Idea #20: Temporary Improvements Encourage Historic Preservation Planning

This next idea comes to us compliments of Fernanda Sotelo, a recent graduate of the Columbia University M.S. in Historic Preservation program. Her graduate thesis, Beyond Temporary: Preserving the Built Environment with Temporary Urban Interventions analyzed three Better Block projects in-depth. Some recommendations of best practice were presented for how temporary interventions may prompt long-lasting gains through historic preservation.

The most important aspects of temporary urban interventions Sotelo identified were: direct public participation, long-term goals and objectives, continued activation of spaces through periodic interventions, analysis of intervention results and reassessment of long-term goals, professional guidance from a preservationist throughout the intervention, and development and adoption of a preservation plan. As Sotelo envisions it, the intervention consists of three phases: pre-planning, the event itself, then analysis and follow-up action after the initial event is done.

Sotelo has the most recommendations to provide for pre-event planning during Phase I. Among the actions she calls for is to create the project team, identify the project site, devise an intervention plan and length. Work needs to be done on outreach and collaboration, establishment of public participation methods, and beginning of work on a preservation plan during this phase. Obtaining permission from property owners and getting permits that are needed to make interventions is done. This is where her professional preservation training runs afoul somewhat with the haphazard and seemingly spontaneous nature of the Better Block model. Getting variances, permits, and approvals is too bothersome for most Better Block practitioners to follow. Nonetheless, this is an important and indeed a required step if true historic preservation gains are to be made. For at the essence of historic preservation is the orderly improvement over time of specially designated places.

The preservation plan that is started in Phase I "will be used throughout the intervention process to not only document the planning and results of the intervention but also inform the intervention." Elements to include in the plan are identification of historic built assets, better understanding the history of the area to be effected, understanding the current condition of the existing built environment. The plan also presents opportunities to study challenges of the environment like zoning and parking and to establish future goals and objectives for the community. Sotelo also suggests the preservation plan is a helpful tool in identifying the types of businesses that might do well in vacant spaces in the affected area. This brings in the element of market analysis to the process. Again, such a formal analysis is somewhat beyond what most temporary interventions undertake. Nonetheless, if the people and organizations undertaking the intervention have this capacity, it would be wise to incorporate this into an ideal model of best practice.

In Phase II, which covers the intervention itself, Sotelo calls for creating task teams. These teams implement various aspects of the intervention. Examples of work undertaken include landscaping, building painting and restoration, street lighting, set-up of retail spaces, bike-lane creation, and carpentry and skilled work. Teams are also needed for take-down and clean-up. Where Sotelo differs from other approaches is in suggesting the need for professionals in restoration. Few if any Better Block projects have engaged restoration professionals as part of the project.

Finally, Phase III begins after the event is over. Sotelo recommends to:

1. Organize follow up meetings. Bring the community back to analyze the intervention and to assess and evaluate future goals. Surveys and polls may also be valuable tools to gather input following the intervention. Sotelo recommends that this evaluation be guided by a preservation professional.
2. Finalize the preservation plan. Record findings and results from the intervention into a formal preservation plan. Allow for future goals and objectives to be occasionally reassessed. Future sites for interventions may be identified, and a variety of different uses for the target area may be tested and ultimately implemented. The plan may also include guidelines of how to continue the improvement of the area through future interventions and providing incentives to support revitalization efforts.

In the ideal model that Sotelo presents, it differs from most prior temporary interventions and Better Block projects by requiring a preservationist be brought in at the beginning of the process to facilitate. As such, any Better Block interventions undertaken help to achieve the same goal that preservation seeks - to promote economic development through utilizing existing assets. Proper community engagement will create a constituency of people to serve as stewards of what results. When carried our properly, temporary interventions have the potential to transform the built environment for the better and create great benefit for the community being served.

Better Block Middlesborough was held from October 25-27, 2013, in Middlesborough, Kentucky. To help with planning for future events like this, please consider making a donation today!

Managing the Event

• #1: Think Incrementally
• #2: Build a Better Block
• #3: Encourage Public Participation
• #4: Temporary to Permanent
• #5: Pre-Vitalization
• #6: Leverage the Power of the Crowd
• #7: Raise the Funds You'll Need
• #8: The Strength of Main Street
• #9: Sidewalk Stencils and Signs
• #10: Blackmail Yourself

Welcoming People

• #11 The Power of 10
• #12 Walk [Your City]
• #13 Mobile Vendors
• #14 Food Trucks and Carts
• #15 Plant Trees
• #16 Cover Up Blank Walls
• #17 Free Library
• #18 Pop-up Parks
• #19 Pop-Up Shops
• #20 Temporary Improvements Encourage Historic Preservation Planning

The Street and Public Spaces

• #21 Bicycle Valet, Repair, and Share
• #22 Get the Parking Right
• #23 Intersection Repair
• #24 Depave
• #25 Pop-up Cafe
• #26 Pavement to Parks
• #27 Complete Streets
• #28 Sharrows
• #29 Informal Bike Parking
• #30 Pallet Chairs Bring the Community Together

Darlene R. Taylor selected as President of Preservation Action

Preservation Action is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization created in 1974 to serve as the national grassroots lobby for historic preservation. Preservation Action seeks to make historic preservation a national priority by advocating to all branches of   the federal government for sound preservation policy and programs through a   grassroots constituency empowered with information and training and   through direct contact with elected representatives. Their annual Lobby Day, held in late February or early March each year, is an excellent way to connect with preservation advocates nationally, and to bring the message about the benefits of preservation to our legislators on Capitol Hill. For more information see: http://www.preservationaction.org/. Middlesborough participated in this event in 2013 and has plans to participate again in 2014. 

Please see the following message about exciting new changes happening with PA.

A Message from from the Board Chair

I am excited to announce that Preservation Action has appointed Darlene R. Taylor as our next President! Darlene’s first day is Tuesday, October 1. She is looking forward to working with each of you!

With a career in public service, global communications at Fortune 100 corporations, and as a principal in her consulting firm, Darlene brings valuable skills and expertise to PA. In senior roles as a congressional aide and in municipal government, she advised elected officials and engaged constituent groups on national public policy issues as well as managed legislative and communications staff. She has served on a number of boards and commissions where she has been instrumental in outreach, public awareness, and relationship building to support fundraising and programming initiatives. She joins a very talented and capable staff, and we look forward to PA’s continued growth and success under her leadership.

Welcome to Preservation Action, Darlene!

A Message from Darlene

I’m excited about this opportunity to work with the Preservation Action Board of Directors, the PA staff, and YOU, our members, and other grassroots preservationists around the country.

I grew up in Washington, DC, and I know from personal experience that our buildings and neighborhoods hold stories of America’s history…as they do in your cities and towns. In my public and private sector career and volunteer service, I have been committed to protecting and preserving historic buildings, lands, and works of art.

We all have a role in historic preservation and I look forward to working with Congress and the Administration to promote sound preservation policy and helping to expand the public’s exposure and involvement in my new position.

Thank you!

Contact Darlene at Preservation Action

Darlene can be reached by email at dtaylor@preservationaction.org, and a friendly reminder about our new contact information at the Heurich House on Dupont Circle.

Preservation Action
1307 New Hampshire Ave NW
Third Floor
Washington, DC 20036
P| 202-463-0970
F| 202-463-1299

Craig A. Potts named Kentucky Heritage Council executive director and state historic preservation officer

Kentucky Heritage Council Press Release

Craig A. Potts named Kentucky Heritage Council executive director and state historic preservation officer

Release Date                                                                Contact: Diane Comer

Thursday, June 6, 2013                                                502-564-7005, ext. 120

                                                                                    diane.comer@ky.gov

Frankfort, Ky. – Gov. Steve Beshear has announced the appointment of Craig A. Potts as executive director of the Kentucky Heritage Council (KHC) and state historic preservation officer, effective June 1. The position had been filled in an interim capacity by Lindy Casebier, deputy secretary of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet.

“I join with the entire board and staff of the Kentucky Heritage Council in congratulating Craig on his appointment,” said KHC Chairman Robert W. Griffith. “Craig is well-qualified by experience and temperament for this important work, and all of us wish him every success in this job, one that is so important to all Kentuckians.”

Potts has served as KHC’s Site Protection program manager since 2009, responsible for a staff of six who oversee Section 106 Review of federally funded projects and the agency’s professional archaeology component, which includes the Kentucky Archaeological Survey, a partnership between KHC and the University of Kentucky Department of Anthropology. In his new capacity, he will oversee a staff of 20 whose responsibilities also include administering state and federal rehabilitation tax credit programs, the Kentucky Main Street Program, historic sites survey, the National Register of Historic Places, preservation planning, the Certified Local Government (CLG) Program, and staff support for the Kentucky African American, Kentucky Native American and Kentucky Military heritage commissions.

“I am thrilled to receive this appointment,” said Potts. “I’ve always had a special love for this agency, and believe deeply in our mission of helping Kentuckians preserve their heritage and the things that give us a strong sense of place, including small towns, rural environments, and cultural resources that range from historic commercial buildings to prehistoric archaeological sites.”

In addition, he adds, “I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside this staff for a number of years and I greatly respect the work they do, day in and day out, for our constituents. I look forward to supporting them in this new role and working with them to do new and exciting things in moving the agency forward.”

Potts was previously senior architectural historian, principal investigator and supervisor for Cultural Resource Analysts Inc. in Lexington, responsible for oversight of architectural history and historic preservation projects; and a principal, project manager and general contractor with Potts & Potts LLC, a historic property rehabilitation and management partnership. The firm was recognized on the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation’s “Positive Preservation in the Bluegrass” list of 25 outstanding projects in September 2007, for adaptive reuse of a circa-1850 building in Frankfort’s downtown commercial historic district.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Wittenberg University; a Master of Arts in architectural history, and a Master of Fine Arts in historic preservation, from the Savannah College of Art and Design; and logged a wide range of practical experience in cultural resource evaluation and management prior to first joining KHC as environmental review coordinator from 2001-2004.

Potts lives in downtown Frankfort with his wife, Amy, and sons Sam and Simon, in a historic commercial building he and his family recently rehabilitated.

# # #

An agency of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, the Kentucky Heritage Council/State Historic Preservation Office is responsible for the identification, protection and preservation of archaeological resources and historic buildings, sites and cultural resources throughout the Commonwealth, in partnership with other state and federal agencies, local communities and interested citizens. This mission is integral to making communities more livable and has a far-ranging impact on issues as diverse as economic development, jobs creation, affordable housing, tourism, community revitalization, environmental conservation and quality of life. www.heritage.ky.gov

 

National Trust for Historic Preservation Awards Discover Downtown Middlesboro A Preservation Grant

For Immediate Release
Isaac D. Kremer Discover Downtown Middlesboro, Inc. Phone (606.248.6155),downtownmiddlesboro@gmail.com	National Trust for Historic Preservation 202.588.6141, pr@savingplaces.org

National Trust for Historic Preservation Awards Discover Downtown Middlesboro A Preservation Grant from National Trust Preservation Funds

Grant Will Go Toward the People’s Plan for Economic Development, Job Creation and Revitalization

Middlesboro, Kentucky (June 4, 2013)—Today, Discover Downtown Middlesboro was awarded a $5,000 grant by the National Trust for Historic Preservation from the Linda and Jerry Bruckheimer Preservation Fund for Kentucky of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  The seed grant funds will be used to develop a strategic plan for the National Register-listed historic downtown area.

Discover Downtown Middlesboro has already hosted a Community Forum and Stakeholder’s Workshop with the help of this grant. The results are now being analyzed and further public input is being sought. Faculty and students with the Lincoln Memorial University School of Business will assist with preparing a professional report that will be completed by mid-September 2013. This will then guide downtown revitalization efforts over the next three to five years.

"Without organizations like Discover Downtown Middlesboro, communities and towns all across America would  have a diminished sense of place," said Stephanie Meeks, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  "The National Trust for Historic Preservation is honored to provide a grant to DDM, which will use the funds to help preserve an important piece of our shared heritage."

The National Trust for Historic Preservation dispenses small grants for local projects through the National Trust Preservation Funds grant program.  The grants range from $500 to $5,000 and have provided over $5.5 million dollars of funding since 2002.  They are awarded to nonprofit groups, educational institutions and public agencies, and must be matched, at least dollar for dollar, with public or private funds.  Preservation Funds grants are being used nationally for such wide-ranging activities as consultant services for rehabilitating buildings, technical assistance for tourism that promotes historic resources and educating children about their heritage.  These grants are often the deciding factor on whether historic buildings or sites can be saved for future generations.

For more information on National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Preservation Fund grants, visit: www.PreservationNation.org/resources/find-funding/grants/.

About Discover Downtown Middlesboro

Discover Downtown Middlesboro is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that  was founded in 2006. Since that time the organization has worked to spearhead revitalization of the downtown area. This is accomplished through coordinating grassroots action by volunteers on four committees – Organization, Promotion, Design, and Economic Restructuring. Some recent DDM projects include organizing the Christmas Parade and decoration of the downtown, addition of four fountains and seating at Cumberland Avenue and 20th Street, and encouraging the restoration of several buildings downtown.

About the National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately-funded nonprofit organization that works to save America’s historic places to enrich our future. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is committed to protecting America’s rich cultural legacy and helping build vibrant, sustainable communities that reflect our nation’s diversity.