[Source: Lesley Wright, Arizona Republic] -- Scottsdale officials are encouraging homeowners in the city's first two historic districts to apply for grants to restore their houses. Homeowners in the Town and Country and Village Grove (1-6) neighborhoods have until Thursday to apply for grants worth up to $10,000 to rehabilitate the exterior of their homes. "This is part of the city where people are doing home improvements," said Preservation Planner Don Meserve. "We want to support people making improvements that are appropriate for this historic district."The Historic Residential Exterior Rehabilitation Program is part of the city's broader efforts to improve neighborhoods south of Chaparral Road. The $200,000 budgeted for the program comes out of a $2 million fund for revitalization efforts. The first two neighborhoods won designation as historic districts last June and the rehabilitation program was started within six months. "Some people don't even know they are designated as historic yet," said Debbie Abele, the city's historic preservation director.
Abele said that a similar program in Phoenix inspired homeowners to spend $3 of their own money for every $1 they received from grants. The program is "rigorous," Meserve said, with higher standards than those required for a regular building permit. The tradeoff is that homeowners get more money - a match of up to half the project's cost - to make sure the work is done to the highest historic standards. Since the Arizona Constitution prohibits the "gift" of public funds for private purposes, the program requires the homeowner to sell the city an "easement" for the life of the project.
[For information on the grant program, click here. Photo of Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross at February's Town & Country Historic District sign dedication, courtesy of Jennifer Hibbard and Christine Kinchen].
