SHELBY – Historic buildings in the city of Shelby are on track to receive a facelift thanks to a new grant application.
Shelby City Council authorized the mayor and the Shelby Historic Preservation Commission to apply for a Certified Local Government (CLG) grant for the creation of a historic preservation plan for the city.
“When you rehab, restore and repurpose a historic building, you make a jump-start on economic development,” said Pat Carlisle, chair of the Shelby Historic Preservation Commission.
“Especially when people are saying downtown is dead – this is an avenue to say downtown is not dead. We can bring it back to life.”
The Ohio State Historic Preservation Office provides financial assistance for the creation of historic preservation plans through the Certified Local Government grant. As a newly-created Certified Local Government, the city of Shelby is now eligible to apply for federal and state grants to assist rehabilitation projects on registered historic properties, such as the current grant for the creation of a historic preservation plan.
Carlisle explained the grant is for $20,000 and will qualify for 100 percent reimbursement, meaning the city will receive all its money back. The commission plans to use the grant funding to hire a consultant to help with the process of creating a five-year historic preservation plan looking at the history of Shelby and the steps to rehab, restore and repurpose historic buildings in town.
“The consultant would help us find historical context to what we’re doing with the historic properties,” said Christina Drain, a member of the commission.
“I think it’s going to be really interesting for the public, too – they know a lot of these buildings, they know what was in the buildings in certain time periods, but do they really know the history of how the whole thing was built and how it was started?”
Currently Marvin Memorial Library and Most Pure of Mary Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, the Shelby Center Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The district boundary on the south side of Main Street is from the current fire station on the east to the Ohio Eye building on the west. The boundary on the north side of Main Street is from the Masonic Temple on the east to Gionino’s Pizzeria on the west.
“We have historic locations in town that have never been on the national register, we have places that need to be locally designated, and we will have public meetings and an input process from the public to discern what they would like to see historic preservation look like for the next five years,” Carlisle said.
The process first began in February 2015, when Shelby City Council passed a historic preservation ordinance for the purpose of preserving Shelby’s distinctive character and its “cultural, social, residential, commercial, industrial, educational, political, or architectural heritage for the enjoyment, enrichment and benefit of the citizens of Shelby.”
The passage of the ordinance, sponsored by Councilman Garland Gates, created the Shelby Historic Preservation Committee, made up of five members appointed by Shelby Mayor Steve Schag. Current members of the Shelby Historic Preservation Commission are Pat Carlisle, Tom Clabaugh, Christina Drain, Kaushik Patel and Joe Thompson, with Joe Gies as the city liaison to the commission.
A large function of commission was leading the city of Shelby to becoming a Certified Local Government (CLG) – a federal-state-local partnership for protecting historic resources. By becoming a CLG, Shelby would be eligible for training, technical assistance and additional benefits from the Ohio Historic Preservation Office and for CLG grants to cover the costs of historic preservation planning, surveys and inventories.
On May 31, 2017, the commission submitted the city’s application to become a CLG to the State Historic Preservation Office. The Department of Interior National Park Service approved the application on Oct. 13, 2017.
