The city of Starkville and the Carl Small Town Center are partnering to craft a set of guidelines to help preserve the character of the city鈥檚 downtown.
Community Development Department Director Buddy Sanders said the process for the guidelines started about two-and-a-half years ago.
鈥淭he historic preservation commission became concerned about possible redevelopments in the downtown area and the effect that a renovation may have on a downtown building losing the character of that historic property,鈥 Sanders said.
Commissioners reached out to then-Greater Starkville Development CEO Jennifer Gregory, who suggested creating a set of guidelines to offer for businesses looking to move into or renovate a building downtown.
The city applied for a Certified Local Government grant through the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. In June, the city received the grant, which will offer $6,500 in reimbursement for the $13,000 contract with the Carl Small Town Center, which aldermen approved at the most recent regular board meeting. The city is paying $3,250 of the contract鈥檚 cost, and the remaining $3,250 is covered through in-kind volunteer services from the center.
Leah Kemp, director of the Carl Small Town Center, said the template is going to focus on exterior characteristics of the buildings.
鈥淲e look at the height of the buildings, the character and the materiality,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e look at how they were made. The goal is to provide options so future development can not necessarily return things to the way they were, but make decisions in keeping with the character and scale of what is already there.
鈥淪ometimes in other cities, you can see bad examples of what not to do,鈥 she added. 鈥淲e are going to provide in our standards examples of what to do and what not to do.鈥
Sanders said the guidelines will focus wholly on the outside of buildings.
鈥淎 bright, canary yellow paint is not going to work on a 1910 building,鈥 he said.
Work has to be completed on the design guidelines by mid-September, and Sanders said he expects it to be finished before then, with the center already 鈥渕oving quickly鈥 on the work.
He said the document will be strictly suggestive, rather than codified in an ordinance. Still, he said the center will likely present the document to the board of aldermen when it鈥檚 completed.
鈥淲e were very open with the Carl Small Town Center that we wanted the document to be a template for other Mississippi cities,鈥 Sanders said.
Kemp said the work Starkville is doing could set a positive model for other communities.
鈥淭he more progressive communities around the state are the ones who understand the value of preserving their identities,鈥 she said. 鈥淪tarkville is poised to grow a whole lot more, and the local board and mayor understand that and want to make sure they鈥檙e growing in a positive way.
鈥淚 think Starkville has been charged with setting a sense of design excellence,鈥 she later added. 鈥淭his template will help set that standard of excellence so Starkville can be looked at as a place that sets a good example for other communities.鈥