City of Walla Walla invites public to attend Historic Preservation Commission virtual meeting
The City of Walla Walla will hold a special meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission at 5:15 p.m. on July 30, 2020, to review and recommend the approval of the nomination for the Downtown Walla Walla Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places. A draft nomination is available for viewing on the City website.
The meeting will be hosted on the Zoom web conferencing platform. The meeting ID is 841 7124 6060. Members of the public may also phone in by calling 253-215-8782 and then entering the meeting ID.
The nomination will be reviewed by City Council at a later date and forwarded on to the Washington State Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which makes a recommendation to the National Park Service, which is the “keeper” of the National Register of Historic Places and the final decision-maker.
The nomination includes 59 contributing structures and 44 non-contributing structures, in the area generally bounded by Rose Street, Palouse Street, 3rd Avenue, and the alley between Alder and Poplar streets. Properties that contribute to the National Register District are eligible for federal income tax credits when qualified rehabilitations are completed.
The National Register District nomination was first discussed at a public meeting on Jan. 23. During this meeting, the proposed boundaries of the district were described, and attendees
learned about the benefits of National Register listing from Diana Painter, consultant on the project, and Stephen Day, architect and project lead for the Penrose Hotel.
The City of Walla Walla was awarded a $17,000 grant from the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation last year. The grant provided funding to hire a consultant to prepare the nomination application. Painter Preservation was chosen as consultant and has prepared the nomination materials to be reviewed by the Historic Preservation Commission.
