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Historic District design guidelines to assist in downtown preservation Saco's downtown residents and businesses built and maintained a beautiful downtown long before the City Council passed the city's Historic Preservation Ordinance and created the Downtown Historic Preservation District in 1991. These individual efforts over many generations have retained a diverse architectural tapestry of buildings from humble 1785 houses to 19th century churches and commercial blocks to a 20th century art deco-influenced theaters and hamburger stands. Recognizing the social and economic value of its beautiful downtown, the City Council codified local design standards in Saco's Historic Preservation Ordinance, which is included in Chapter 4 of the Zoning ordinance. The local regulations are based on the United States Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings. The ordinance creates the Saco Historic Preservation Commission, a volunteer city commission nominated by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council. Similar to a Planning Board, the Commission makes decisions about proposals for building projects in historic districts by reviewing them to the standards of the ordinance. The Planning Department is completing a new publication, "Historic District Design Guidelines." The goal of the 70+ page manual is to provide additional information for property owners, builders, designers, and anyone who needs to use the ordinance. The interpretive material is based on the federal and state governments' historic preservation practices, as and how the historic preservation community has interpreted standard's very similar to Saco's. The manual is advisory only. The manual is being completed with the assistance of Architectural Historian Sara Martin of Bangor and a grant from the National Park Services, through the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. The City qualifies for small grants most years because it is a CLG, of Certified Local Government for historic preservation. The manual outlines the policies and procedures followed by the Saco Historic Preservation Commission (Part 1) and provides an in-depth, illustrated explanation of "Saco's Standards of Evaluation" and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation (Part 2). In addition, it contains a detailed, illustrated section of guidelines on how to meet the standards, based on the Secretary of the Interior's Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings (Part 3). Saco's architectural legacy can be seen in the mill buildings on Saco Island, which are now in the Biddeford/Saco Mills Historic District, and in the Saco Downtown Historic District, which are both on the National Register of Historic Places. The buildings encompass a broad range of architectural styles: Georgian and Federal styles of the turn of the nineteenth century; Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, and Second Empire styles of the mid-nineteenth century; late-nineteenth century Queen Anne, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Stick Styles; Colonial Revival, Arts and Crafts, and Bungalow styles of the early twentieth century; plus a few Modern commercial buildings of the mid-twentieth century. That there are so many carefully-maintained buildings from so many different eras in Saco creates a strong sense of place here, helping to make it a vibrant place to live and do business. |
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