After months of discussions, Jefferson City has its first local historic district.
The Jefferson City Council approved the School Street local historic district application 7-2 Tuesday evening, with Ward 4 Councilmen Ron Fitzwater and Carlos Graham voting against the district. Ward 2 Councilman Rick Mihalevich was not present during the council meeting.
The area includes 27 parcels - encompassing properties in the 600 block of East McCarty Street, all of School Street, the 400 block of Lafayette Street, three houses on the east side of Lafayette Street, one house on East Miller Street and 500 Lafayette St.
In January, applicant Jenny Smith submitted the local historic district application, which links the neighborhood to former Lincoln University officials, historical architecture, segregation and The Foot - Jefferson City's once black business and residential district along Lafayette Street between East Dunklin and Miller streets.
The district includes design guidelines for the properties to help preserve the neighborhood's characteristics.
"We're very, very pleased and relieved with the vote tonight," Smith told the News Tribune. "It's been a long haul and we never dreamed it would be this hard actually."
The City Council placed the application on the council's informal calendar in August after several people spoke in opposition of the district because it did not contain Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church, which has more than 160 years of history.
If the council had not voted on the application Tuesday, the School Street local historic district application would have automatically been declined since items on the informal calendar expire after three meetings if the council does not take action.
While the Rev. Cassandra Gould previously said she believed the church was purposely excluded due to race discrimination, Smith said she did not know Quinn Chapel wanted to be included and did not want to place design guidelines on the new church building.
The council approved an amendment last month that would allow Quinn Chapel, along with other interested property owners, to apply to be included in already established local historic districts. Interested property owners must submit an application to the city, which would go to the city's Historic Preservation Commission and Planning and Zoning Commission. Following the commission's review, the application would go to the City Council for final approval.
The amendment is not solely in reference to the School Street local historic district; it applies to all future local historic districts.
Along with preserving history, Smith previously said, having a local historic district in place could also lift FEMA's regulations since most of the area is in a 100-year floodplain. According to FEMA's substantial improvement rule, property owners can't make improvements totaling more than 50 percent of the building's values if the structure is in a floodplain.
City staff previously said they have not received definitive answers from federal or state regulators stating establishing a local historic district would be an exemption to this rule.
Fitzwater voted against the local historic district application and amendment because he said he thought the council was "piece-mealing" the local historic district. He previously said he thought city staff should revamp the local historic district section of the city code before approving applications.
City staff said the local historic district city code section is vague and they want to redo the section with grant money, which Smith agreed with.
"I'm really hoping they'll let us help them and make suggestions because we were the first ones to encounter the obstacles that there are in the (city) code and what they are," Smith said.
The Historic Preservation Commission recommended approval of the local historic district in May, while the Planning and Zoning Commission gave the council a neutral recommendation in June. City staff recommended denial of the local historic district application to both commissions.
Smith submitted the local historic district application in January, but city staff sent it back because it did not meet the city's requirement of having notarized signatures from 75 percent of the property owners.
The city and Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department own five properties in the proposed local historic district area - 408 and 410 Lafayette St., 602 and 606 E. McCarty St., and 623 School St. The council signed the local historic district application in March as the property owner of 408 Lafayette St. so the application could reach this threshold.
The city placed a demolition moratorium on School, East McCarty and Lafayette streets in March 2017 after residents said they were worried the city would turn the area into green space to comply with a 2006 city plan. The local historic district area also used to be Cottage Place Park, which hosted several competitions, games and social gatherings.
The council lifted the moratorium last November.
The concern came when city staff tried to demolish 408 Lafayette St., owned by the city, to avoid paying back more than $78,000 in federal funds the city invested in rehabilitating the building before the building was added to the nearby floodplain. The city cannot use federal money to rehabilitate properties in a floodplain, city staff said previously.
The City Council tried to sell the property earlier this year but did not receive bids that met the city's requirements so it voted in March to proceed with demolishing the building. The Historic Preservation Commission denied the city's request earlier this year.
Property owners can appeal the Historic Preservation Commission's denial to the City Council. City staff appealed the process but was waiting to see what happened with the local historic district before presenting the appeal to the council, said Sonny Sanders, director of the Jefferson City Department of Planning and Protective Services.
The Parks department also approved bids to demolish 602 and 606 E. McCarty St. last month, hoping to create green space near the greenway trail head. The former owner of 606 E. McCarty St. donated the building with the promise it would be demolished and used as green space.
Separate from the local historic district, Glover Brown, executive director of Friends of Lafayette Street and The Historic Foot District, proposed an economic development package that would include shops, restaurants and apartments within the district. Brown previously said he has been working on the project for a couple of years.
"We have always believed in a balance between the old and the new," Brown said. "We feel that the area was deprived of economic development in the '60s, so what we would like to do is, in balancing it out, bring some economic development to the area."