Maysville is one of nine communities to receive a Certified Local Government grant from the Kentucky Heritage Council/State Historic Preservation Office.
The grant funds total approximately $14,500 and will be used for the expansion of the boundaries of Maysville's downtown National Register of Historic Places and will include 110 additional properties.
The other communities to receive grants are Bardstown, Bellevue, Covington, Danville, Hopkinsville, Louisville, Paducah and Shelbyville. The grant funds allocated total $86,448. Communities receiving a grant must provide a local match of 40 percent for the project.
Matt Wallingford, Renaissance coordinator for the city, said the funds will be used to conduct research and inventory properties to be included in the Register.
Wallingford explained registering properties on the National Register of Historic Places is different than being included in a city's historic district.
The purpose of including properties in the NRHP benefits the property owner, who may take advantage of federal and state tax credits when restoring or rehabilitating a historic property. If the property owner wants to receive the offered tax credits, he/she must follow certain standards when restoring a property. One example is replacing a building's original wooden windows with new wooden windows, instead of vinyl windows.
However, if the property owner doesn't want to take advantage of the tax credits, he/she doesn't have to comply with the standards of the Kentucky Heritage Council and the National Park Service, for such things as replacing old windows with energy efficient windows.
Wallingford said the properties to be added to the city's National Register of Historic Places are outside the current boundaries of the city's historic district, which are already part of the NRHP.
The areas to be included in the National Register are: both sides of West Fourth Street from Sutton to Market Street; the south side of East Fourth Street from Market Street to Plum Street; Limestone Street between Third and Fourth streets; Cox's Row on the eastern side of Market Street; and the south side of West Second Street from Wall Street to Adair Park, which is next to the J.T. Thorpe company at Short Street.
Wallingford said Dr.Orloof Miller has been hired to inventory and research the properties, with final approval of the project expected in the summer of 2016.
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