Last month, I wrote about the city updating its comprehensive plan and the importance of what that will mean for our community in the coming years and next two decades. A good example of the impact the last plan has had is with the city’s Historic Preservation Commission which is made up of both private and business residents, including me.
While the Commission has existed for more than 10 years, its guidelines and expectations come largely from zoning updates that came from the most recent comprehensive plan. The entire downtown district is zoned central mixed used and carries with it certain minimum requirements for the promotion of public health, safety, convenience, and general welfare. There are 11 different zones within the city.
Our goal for the Historic Preservation Commission is to help preserve and restore historically and architecturally significant exterior features in the downtown district fairly. The entire district itself, roughly bounded by 15th and 18th Avenues and 9th and 13th Streets, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in May 1982, with a handful of buildings listed on the register individually, and many more contributing to its inclusion.
As a committee, we work closely with city employees to help safeguard and stabilize changes to exteriors. Through the building inspector and zoning code, there is procedure to monitor construction, reconstruction, alteration and demolition of structures and sites within the district. This is done by review of Certificates of Appropriateness that businesses must fill out before doing any work.
The committee also includes a licensed real estate broker, a registered architect, an alderperson, historian, and citizens interested in historic preservation. We are all appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the full council. Our meetings often focus on ordinary maintenance and exterior paint colors, affirming that neon signs are not permitted, that neither is promoting another business on site, and signage.
Over the last two months, we have had several exciting certificates submitted and approved. These have included permanent signage for El Matazlan, the Mexican restaurant that opened on the north side of the square this past April, painting and façade work for the buildings where 213 Mercantile and Toy Haus are located, and work on the Monroe Professional Center and Fitzgibbon Building.
The work here is especially exciting, as the lower 3’ of the existing stucco alternative facades on the north and east sides of the building will be re-coated and new facade will be installed on the lower west and south walls. The work is underway, and if you pay any attention to our alleys, you will already notice what great improvements these are.
Lastly, the project to renovate the Eugene Hotel into an operational hotel again was approved this month. It will include chimney repair and tuck pointing, private sidewalk and driveway replacement, exterior window work to restore and reglaze all windows, and repainting and repairing door casing and frames and strip existing paint on all surrounding stone. The building originally opened in 1925 and when the renovation is complete, will feature 25 hotel rooms. Additional exterior work will include new steel access grates to align with the existing sidewalk and fabricating bent steel window well covers. A major undertaking, but most work will occur inside the building, including expanding Baumgartner’s into an existing storefront.
An additional request with the hotel project is adding back a lighted box sign on the southwest corner of the building like it once had. Commercial signs come in various styles, including blade signs, and channel letters that can be mounted or hung. At present, unless grandfathered in, a lighted box sign is not permitted under current code. That is likely to be updated.
We are so fortunate that the changes brought before us are ensuring the preservation of the city’s historical character and history, while strengthening the nature of the downtown and that structure exists to adapt and react and facilitate it all.
— Jordan Nordby is the executive director for Main Street Monroe. He can be reached at MonroeMainStreet@tds.net. Complete details on Main Street Monroe and its efforts can be found at mainstreetmonroe.org.
