Forest Grove councilors take historic vote

City will send paperwork for a new historic district to Salem, with federal panel weighing in later

By John Schrag

The Forest Grove News-Times, Jul 14, 2010, Updated Jul 14, 2010

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Will Forest Grove get a third historic district? Residents won’t find out for several months, but city councilors took a big step forward Monday night, giving their OK to an application for a district west of Pacific University.

Forest Grove already has two National Historic Districts and a third would make the city one of the few (and, possibly the smallest) in the state with three or more.

Historic districts contain homes at least 50 years old that are largely intact and represent an architectural style of a particular period. A consultant found that 59 percent of the homes in the proposed Walker Naylor District meet that definition, a larger share than in the city’s two existing districts.

Homes in officially designated

historic districts may qualify for tax breaks to pay for repair and restoration. On the flip side, major renovations may need to get approval by a local panel to ensure the changes are in keeping with the original construction style.

City officials say they haven’t had any complaints about the two existing districts. The Clark District (174 properties on 86 acres between Rogers Park and Central School) was established in 2002; Painter’s Woods (42 properties on 27 acres to the east) came seven years later.

The current proposal is to establish the Walker Naylor District on 33 acres roughly between 21st and 23rd Avenues and A and C Streets.

With the council’s vote to move forward, the application will now be sent to the State Historic Preservation Office in Salem. Officials there will then contact each property owner inside the proposed district and allow them to object to the designation. If a majority of property owners oppose inclusion, then the process is over. Otherwise, the State Advisory Committee on Historic Places will consider the request in early October. The final step would be a review by the staff of the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.