Buda’s Main Street program in joint effort with the Historic Preservation Committee will bring several projects benefiting business owners and local residents in 2020.
Main Street Program Manager Maggie Gillespie said it will include HPC in its grant application process, kick-off the first HPC month celebration in May and work together to expand Main Street boundaries.
As downtown sees an influx of construction, Main Street plans to use its Historic Preservation grant, valued at $65,000, to help businesses that may be affected by the construction over the next two years. The joint effort between programs will make sure that grant recipients follow HPC guidelines.
“As we are administering this grant, we’re making sure that the HPC has insight on how the grants are administered and making sure that each of the applicants follow the correct process through the city and receive their certificate of appropriateness,” Gillespie said.
One goal of the Main Street program is to expand district boundaries through historic preservation. Gillespie said as Main Street seeks to expand, the HPC will help make sure their goals are aligned.
“Because the Historic Preservation boundaries are larger than ours (Main Street), if we want to add to our district, we want to make sure that the areas we’re doing research on are compatible and allowable because we have to go through a process with the Texas Main Street program,” Gillespie said.
Gillespie said she is looking forward to Historic Preservation Month in May. The details for the event, along with other team efforts for 2020, will be discussed in a future joint meeting.
