Hot Springs seeks grants to preserve historic properties

A file photo of the front of Hot Springs City Hall as seen from Convention Boulevard. - File photo by The Sentinel-Record
A file photo of the front of Hot Springs City Hall as seen from Convention Boulevard. - File photo by The Sentinel-Record


Demolition of condemned buildings is permitted under state and city codes, but it's not the only remedy for properties declared a nuisance by the Hot Springs Board of Directors.

The city's public health and property code also allows condemned structures to be repaired, boarded and secured. Federal grants the city hopes to apply for would support that end, keeping structures that contribute to the character of a historic district from falling into disrepair and eventual destruction.

The board will consider resolutions tonight authorizing the city to apply for and accept $450,000 in revitalization grants for the Pleasant Street Historic District, the area east of upper Malvern Avenue comprising parts of Gulpha, Garden and Grove streets.

The city said vacant Gulpha and Garden properties the board condemned in May both contributed to the district's historic character. They were condemned after the fact, with the city using its emergency authority to demolish structures it said had become a danger to public health and safety.

The city told the board last week the Central Avenue Historic District would also be eligible for funds from the $300,000 National Park Service Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant. The district runs along upper Central Avenue from Prospect Avenue to the south to past Whittington Avenue to the north.

Property owners in both districts have to petition the city's Historic District Commission before they can make changes to the exteriors of their properties. That city said the grant supports rehabilitation programs for historic properties. The city would award subgrants through a competitive application process.

The city said only the Pleasant Street District would be eligible for the $150,000 National Trust for Historic Preservation 2023 African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund National Grant. The money would preserve long-term vacant homes.

"Roof replacement and Secure View transparent material to cover structure openings would be typical of the scope of work funded by this grant," the planning and development department said in its request for board action.

Secure View covers windows and doors at the John L. Webb House at the center of the historic district. A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant paid for the see-through covering.

"It's been very effective at keeping the building secure from all kinds of things," Planning and Development Director Kathy Sellman, noting that Secure View gives the appearance that a vacant structure is occupied, told the board last week.

"Rather than using plywood to board, this presents a face to the street and to the neighbors that this is a house, a valuable resource," she said.

The city's long range/historic preservation planner discovered the grants, she said. The new position was first funded in last year's budget.

"I want to thank the board for approving a new position," Sellman told the board. "We've done the best we can with historic preservation, but it has not been the priority activity that our districts merit. We are now in a much better situation."

The board will consider condemnation resolutions tonight for 421 Clara St. and 305 Mountain View St., the first condemnations to come before the 2023-24 board. Neither property is in the city's two historic districts.

The board adopted more than two dozen resolutions condemning vacant structures last year. Hundreds are on the city's vacant/unsafe structures list, but the $100,000 the city's $151.7 million 2023 budget appropriated for demolitions can only address a small fraction.

The city told the board last month that $4,900 was the average cost to demolish and remove a condemned structure.

The low bid to demolish the former Trojan Field House the board condemned in September was $78,000, according to copies of the bids the city provided in response to a records request. The bid didn't include abatement or disposal of hazardous materials and was rejected by the city.

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