Morrison to create historic districts
By SAM SMITH - ssmith@svnmail.com
MORRISON – The City Council has taken two steps toward creating an official historic downtown and transforming the rustic county seat into a tourist destination.
The council on Monday adopted an ordinance allowing the Peoples Economic Development Corp. to help shore up downtown storefronts and put 55 of the downtown’s 60 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.
The initiative is threefold: the nonprofit spinoff of McLeansboro-based lender Peoples National Bank aims to help cities preserve and protect historic buildings, increase the use of tax credits to achieve that, and promote economic growth.
Peoples handpicked Morrison, which is one of 10 cities participating in the pilot project.
The council also passed an ordinance creating the Morrison Historic Preservation Commission.
The five-member panel will be appointed by the mayor to 3-year terms and will have the authority to review cosmetic changes to any buildings within any historic district in the city.
Boundaries for the historic districts have yet to be drawn, but the council hopes to fold the 150-year-old homes on Lincolnway and the half-mile downtown Main Street into two historic districts.
“If we lost those homes or buildings, we would lose our character,” said Alderwoman Barb Bees. “You wouldn’t see the Morrison we are. ... We would look like any other town.”
The ordinance “gives the owners of these homes and buildings – if they want to improve their property – this gives them the tools to do that.”
Property owners within historic districts will be able to sell without intervention from the city, City Administrator Tim Long said.
“This will help ensure the vitality and sustainability of Morrison’s historic character,” Long said.
CITY BOOKS HONERED
Morrison has received a certificate for excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada, an 18-member board composed of public-sector financial officers.
City Administrator Tim Long said the recognition not only demonstrates the city’s commitment to financial transparency, but also will likely save “hundreds of thousands of dollars” over the next 3 years because lenders will offer lower interest rates as the city undertakes an estimated $10 million water and sewer system upgrade.
The award is designed “to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to prepare comprehensive annual financial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure,” according to the agency’s Web site.
