Valdosta City Council Approves Contract for Historic Resource Survey for Southside Area
On October 19th, the Valdosta City Council voted to approve the selection of a qualified historic preservation consulting firm to conduct the Valdosta Southside Historic Resource Survey. This will be a comprehensive survey that will cover the existing historic resources (buildings) on the more than 1,100 parcels of land in the areas immediately south of downtown. It will include all of the properties that are part of the non-local Southside National Register of Historic Places district from 17 years ago, as well as portions of the immediately adjacent area. Funding to cover the cost of this survey will come in part from a $25,000 Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) grant the received this year from the Historic Preservation Division (HPD) of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
Members of the consulting team will begin conducting their field survey of these properties during the first two weeks of December. This will begin the long process of photographing and documenting the physical attributes of each historic resource property, as well as conducting an architectural and contributory assessment of each. This entire data gathering and documentation process is very extensive and will take more than a year to complete.
In addition to updating obsolete historic resource data that was collected through other official surveys many years ago, this survey will gather important data to facilitate future discussions by City Council about the possibility of expanding the City's local Historic District to include portions of the Southside area. This survey has nothing to do with any existing or proposed uses of property, which is covered by the City's zoning regulations. Nor does it have anything to do with the City's building permit or code enforcement processes and requirements.
It should be noted that in addition to all the regular City regulations for development and permitting, properties within the local Historic District must also comply with additional rules that relate to exterior aesthetics and maintaining the historic integrity of the area. Any requests for building or site development permits relating to new construction, demolition, or exterior alterations and renovations, must first be approved by either the City of Valdosta Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) at a public hearing, or in some cases by the City's Historic Preservation staff. For more information on the aspects of this survey, or more information about development rules and processes in the City's local Historic District, please contact the City's Historic Preservation Planner, Jeff Brammer. at 259-3563.