$5M preservation program remains stalled in St. Pete

In 2018, St. Petersburg approved up to $5 million to help preserve historic buildings downtown. Years later, the city has held just one round of grants.

Planning Director Derek Kilborn acknowledged during a Committee of the Whole meeting Sept. 24 that little has changed since City Council and the Community Planning and Preservation Commission discussed restarting the program a year ago.

The Historic Building Grant Program helps owners fix up historic properties within the Intown redevelopment area, which covers much of downtown. The city can cover up to half of eligible renovation costs, with the owner paying the rest. It is not a citywide program; many historic homes outside downtown do not qualify.

The program was put on hold during the Covid-era pause on city grants. Staff planned to simplify what Kilborn described as a cumbersome application process before opening another round.

Council Chair Lisset Hanewicz asked Kilborn whether the city had made any progress on the grant program since last year’s discussion. Kilborn said it was “frankly, in the same place” as a year ago.

Kilborn said the main problem has been staff capacity. His department must first keep up with regulatory work, including certificates of appropriateness for changes to historic properties. Work on the grant program and preservation outreach has waited behind those responsibilities.

Vice Chair Richie Floyd said the problem goes beyond the grant program. The Planning Department is already juggling zoning overlays, transit-oriented development and other work requested by council and the public, he said.

Floyd said the city needs to put more resources into the department and that doing so would be one of his priorities in future budget discussions.

Councilmember Gina Driscoll acknowledged the staffing problem was real, but so was the result: property owners have gone years without another chance to apply.

The first grant cycle drew about $850,000 in applications toward $1 million available that year. Staff later proposed lowering the maximum award from $250,000 to $200,000 and cutting some of the paperwork required from applicants.

Driscoll questioned why those changes had taken so long.

“For it to have been held up since then, I think is a disservice to the city and also to those property owners who would like to do something,” she said. “A year later to hear that nothing has really been done with it, that’s really disappointing. We want to see that money go out.”

Now, the city is considering reducing the amount available before the program restarts.

As St. Petersburg and Pinellas County revisit spending within the Intown Community Redevelopment Area, the administration has proposed keeping another $2 million for the preservation grants. Combined with money tied to the first round, officials said the program would total roughly $3 million instead of the $5 million originally contemplated. 

Kilborn said the city is trying to “right size” the program based on the number of properties that could use it. Staff estimates 15 properties, including those already assisted, would represent about half of the eligible or potentially eligible buildings in the redevelopment area.

Driscoll questioned using a single grant cycle to decide how much demand exists.

Councilmember Brandi Gabbard raised a similar concern. She said rehabilitation costs have climbed and argued the city should be helping private owners shoulder those expenses instead of reducing the money available.

“I don’t really have much of an appetite to see these funds be depleted just by the stroke of a pen saying that we’re going to cut the resources in half,” Gabbard said.

She said she would not support the proposed redevelopment spending changes if they reduce funding for the historic preservation program.

The preservation commissioners who weighed in supported keeping the $5 million figure. They also discussed creating smaller grants to help owners of historic homes pay for roofs, windows, siding and other work.

Kilborn said most of those homes sit outside the Intown redevelopment area. Helping them would require a separate program or another source of money.

Council did not settle the larger funding question during the meeting. Councilmember Copley Gerdes and Floyd said restoring the full amount could mean taking money away from another project when the broader redevelopment plan returns for consideration.

Driscoll said she was wary of shrinking a program that has spent most of its existence on hold.

“Reducing the total amount that’s allocated really sends the message that we don’t think this is working when in fact it actually was,” she said. “When we have something that’s working we need to keep doing it.”