The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce invited representatives from the Main Street Iowa program, the Iowa Great Places program, the Cultural & Entertainment Districts and the State Historic Tax Credits program to present information to business leaders and the public about the benefits of the program and what they can do to stimulate economic development in the downtown district following the Feb. 3 fire.
Darlene Strachan, Assistant State Coordinator and Program Consultant for Main Street Iowa spoke first about the Main Street Iowa program.
The Main Street Iowa program currently has 40 active programs in a variety of communities across the state, including 22 rural communities with a population under 5,000, 15 communities with a population between 5,000 and 50,000 people, two urban street communities with a population over 50,000 and one urban neighborhood, which is Beaverdale in Des Moines.
The program aims to improve the social and economic well-being of communities by helping them capitalize on the unique identity, assets and character of the downtown area.
"It's a partnership," Strachan said. "We walk hand-in-hand with you. We don't want empty buildings, we don't want empty storefronts. We want you to grow. We want you to be successful."
The program, which carries a $2,500 fee for participating communities, has created a net gain of 3,160 new businesses, 9,168 new jobs, 10,069 buildings rehabilitated or sold, $806 million in private sector investment and 1,673,636 volunteer hours for communities involved in the program since 1986. The program utilizes their Four Point Approach, which focuses on business improvement, design, organization and promotion of the downtown area.
Speaking to the group next was State Historical Society of Iowa Project Consultant Jack Porter, who talked about the State Historic Tax Credits Program and the Cultural & Entertainment Districts.
For the State Historic Preservation Tax Incentive Program, building owners can apply for either the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program, or the Statewide Historic Projects programs.
The federal program is aimed only at income-producing historic properties. For the program, 20 percent of qualified rehabilitation costs are available as a credit against federal income taxes. In order to qualify, rehabilitation work on the property must be considered substantial and meet the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings.
The statewide program is aimed at either income-producing historic properties, or a residential property or barn. Under this program, 25 percent of qualified rehabilitation costs are available as a tax credit against the owner's state income taxes. For a residential property or barn constructed before 1937 before rehabilitation, the cost of the qualified project must exceed either $25,000 or 25 percent of the fair market value, whichever is less. For commercial properties, this cost must exceed 50 percent of the fair market value of the property before rehabilitation.
Porter said that since 2000, more than $365 million worth of rehabilitation work has been done around the state.
"What we're trying to do is rehabilitate historic structures so they appear to be finished structures," he said.
Porter also talked about the Iowa Cultural District Program. The cultural districts are defined as "a well-recognized, labeled, mixed-use, compact area of a community in which a high concentration of cultural facilities serves as the anchor."
Iowa established a state certification process for cultural districts in 2004, and to date, 33 cultural districts have achieved state certification. The program uses the same description, eligibility requirements and regulations as the statewide program, although the funding is from a separate allocation.
The final speaker addressing the crowd at the forum was Francis Boggus, Coordinator for Iowa Great Places.
Now five years old, the Iowa Great Places program helps communities engage in an inclusive strategic planning process to gain input, create a vision, and design a plan to turn that vision into a reality. State agency coaches then help the communities with the planning process, and hold conferences throughout the year on topics such as grant writing and community development.
At this point, the community can invite the state to formally designate it as a "Great Place" through a proposal submission process. If requirements are met, which include seven prerequisite dimensions that include the community containing a unique sense of place, engaging experiences, sustainable community and pleasing environment, a rich, diverse social fabric, a vital, creative economy, a strong foundation and creative culture, as well as prove that there is a broad base of support for the plan and show that the community is ready to move forward with their plan, finalists are chosen by a coalition of agency partners and the Great Places Citizens Advisory Board. Designees are then chosen by the board after a bus tour of each finalist community.
If chosen as a "Great Place," the community receives a partnership with the State of Iowa that includes benefits such as technical assistance from all relevant state agencies for project implementation; additional consideration for grant applications from all State agencies for projects specifically included in the community's Great Place proposal; dedicated state historic tax credits; increased publicity; and Iowa Great Places grant funds.
Boggus emphasized the point that the program involves the vision of the entire community and its goals.
"It looks at the entire community and it believes in bringing everyone together in the community and organizing and deciding for themselves what they want their community to be like in the future," he said.
During the question and answer section that followed the presentation, visitors asked additional information about the programs and how the programs could help their businesses and community. Concerns arose about the fire-damaged structures in the downtown district, the revitalization efforts required for those structures, and signage leading visitors to the downtown district, as two of the speakers had difficulty finding City Hall as a result of no signs leading visitors to the downtown district.
"To me, you guys are the core," Executive Director Richard Baker said to the group at the conclusion of the event. "You guys have an interest and form a core standpoint of what you want to see or envision Boone to be. We've all heard the same information, so at least we have the same ground framework."
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