Historic District Nomination | Update

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We are making good progress for the final push for the Village of Philmont Historic District nomination!  

Here’s the scoop on this major achievement for the village and community assisted by the Heritage Working Group, PBI, and the Village govt. working in partnership to get to the finish line.

Jessie Ravage, the preservation specialist, has submitted her final draft of the nomination to SHPO as of last week. The agency is now reviewing it and will make comments (if any) back to Jessie. I will email the final document when I receive it from Jessie Ravage.

We now have actual dates for the letters to be sent by SHPO to the property owners and for the scheduled Public Hearing:

1st Letter of notification to go out from SHPO to property owners –first week in October. This letter will tell property owners about the National Register and includes a letter attachment from the Mayor of Philmont and PBI as the sponsors of the nomination of the District with the date of the public meeting in November.  PBI will be draft this letter for the Mayor & Village and get it to you in a few days.  It is due to SHPO by September 20th. SHPO sent me an example letter this morning to follow – attached.

Public Hearing in the Village Hall -Tuesday 14th November at 7pm.  It would be great if the Mayor and Board would lead this meeting and the Mayor welcome the SHPO staff listed below, thank all community participants in the project, and that it is live streamed on WGXC Wave Farm Radio)

  1. Erin Czernecki, theHistoric Preservation Program Analyst/ Survey and National Register Unit who is overseeing the nomination process with us,
  2. the homeowner tax credit reviewer available to answer questions from the property owners.

State Review Board meeting – December 4th – to evaluate the nomination.We will be provided with a link to listen to the review meeting which will take place at the Philpse Manor State Historic Site in Yonkers.

2nd Letter to go out from SHPO to property owners – After December 4th, to notify the property owners if the State Review Board accepted the nomination for the Village of Philmont Historic District to be listed.

3rd Letter to go out from the National Park Service to property owners – confirming if the Service has reviewed and accepted the nomination. They are allowed to take as long as they want to review nominations.  Usually, reviews are completed within a couple of months after they receive the nomination. So, within that schedule, we should expect that letter to go out in February/March 2024.

This effort, which we hope you agree has been worthwhile, has taken 4 years (2019-2023) to accomplish, with a total project budget of $69,940, which breaks down as follows:

  • $ 43,150 Jessie Ravage fees (Cultural Resources Survey, and the nomination)
  • $  3,700 in printing flyers, maps, and outreach/and postage
  • $ 21,000 in PBI oversight Project Management / and match to 3 grants (BOA, and 2 Preserve NY grants)
  • $     450 community Day Pop-up tent and 2 banners
  • $ 1,140 printing for copies of the Cultural Resources Survey books & 4x Appendices books
  • $     500 consultant fees for History of Philmont presentation 2021 / Kierstead / Heritage Consulting
  • An estimated 60 hours each of volunteer in-kind time for 15 members on the Heritage Working Group
  • An estimated 80 hours of SHPO agency staff time, including 3 community presentations
  • 425 buildings included in the Village of Philmont Historic District will benefit from this effort at no cost to the Village taxpayers, or property owners in the District. 

Heritage Working Group members:

  • Sally Baker, Executive Director, Philmont Beautification, Inc. (Facilitator) and resident of Philmont
  • Tobi Farley, Director, Philmont Library
  • Shawn Jennings, Columbia Opportunities Weatherization and resident of Philmont                                          
  • Arthur King,  Business owner and resident of Philmont                                                        
  • Sarah Barton-King, Designer and resident of Philmont                                                           
  • Robert Hoyt, Counselor, Greener Pathways and resident of Philmont
  • Karen Davala, Business owner, Davala Real Estate       
  • David Bolevice, resident of Philmont         
  • Paul Naprstek, Architect and resident of Philmont  
  • Cara Brownell, resident of Philmont       
  • George Brehm, resident (RIP)        
  • Jake Lewis, resident of Philmont                     
  • Mark Katz, resident of Philmont  
  • Jennifer Thibeault, Business owner
  • Jeane Laporta, Local Historian, Town of Claverack