Meet the Architects

With the Downtown Facade Project under way, the City of Storm Lake has some key players on our side making sure the project will be successful!  The Architects!  RDG Planning & Design out of Des Moines is helping with the design portion of the project.

After having two meetings with the architects, the building owners have started to become acquainted with them on the work for the project, but here is a little more information on them and their architectural background:

Scotney Fenton

Scotney has many years of experience when dealing with historic preservation and restoration.  In fact, he received his Bachelor's degree in Architecture in 1992 from Iowa State University and then went to get his Master's degree in Architecture from Ball State University with an emphasis in Historic Preservation!  He is also a member of the American Institute of Architects, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Iowa, and Historic Preservation Commission for the City of Des Moines. 

Scotney has been involved in many restoration and rehabilitation projects while he has been at RDG including: Iowa State Capitol, Iowa State University - Morrill Hall, Iowa Transportation Museum, St. Ambrose University - Ambrose Hall & LeClaire Hall, Terrace Hill Governor's Mansion, Woodbury County Courthouse, and many other projects.



Michelle Sacco

 

Michelle has years of experience with historic preservation and restoration as well.  She received her Bachelor's degree in Architecture with a Minor in American History in 2005 from Iowa State University.  In 2009,  Michelle received LEED Accredited Professional.  She is also a member of the American Institute of Architects - Associate Member and Iowa Chapter, Architecture in Schools Committee - Co-Chair, NCARB Intern Development Program, Salisbury House and Gardens - Properties and Collections Committee Member, and National Trust for Historic Preservation Member!

 

Michelle has been involved in many restoration and rehabilitation projects while she has been at RDG including: City of West Des Moines - Historic City Hall, Spaulding Center for Transportation, Clay County Courthouse Renovation, Des Moines Brewery, Iowa State Capitol, St. Ambrose University - Ambrose Hall & LeClaire Hall, and many other projects.

 

 

It is great to have them here in Storm Lake working on the Downtown Facade Project!

 

Downtown Facade Grant...What is it?

The Downtown Facade Grant is a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funded through the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) that is awarded annually based on funding available.  Mainly the funding comes from other state projects that did not use all the funding received from other grants. 

To be eligible, communities, like Storm Lake, that applied for the grant had to demonstrate that the downtown area needed improvements to the outside facade of buildings.  As best stated by IEDA, the projects intentions include "Transformative projects that have long-lasting benefits for the downtown and contribute toward a comprehensive downtown revitalization effort."

The grant specifically works with the exterior facades of buildings and does not go into the interior of the buildings.  The grant is a $500,000 award to aid in revitalization costs for the participating buildings.  Building owners are asked to contribute 30% of their building construction costs to the project. 

Architects will sit down with building owners to determine the exact improvements that could be made within the building owners budget.  From this discussion the Architects will create drawings for all the proposed improvements that will be submitted with an historical survey for the downtown facade project to the State Historical Preservation Office.  Once all documents have been reviewed and approved, it will be time to put the construction documents out for bidders.  The contractor will then be selected from the bids received and construction will be under way!

Historical Review

During the January 6th City Council meeting, the City Council approved a contract with Jennifer Price with Price Preservation Research to conduct an historical survey for the downtown area.  This survey will include all the buildings on the 500 & 600 blocks of Lake Avenue along with the north side of the 100 blocks of east and west Railroad Street.

The purpose of this survey is to determine whether Storm Lake's Downtown is historic.  This could be through a district or just individual buildings within the downtown.  Most of the buildings within the downtown are more than 100 years old, but the age of the building doesn't necessarily make a building historic.  The Iowa State Historic Preservation Office and the National Historic Preservation Office base their findings on four different historical criteria:
1. Is the building associated with events that hold a significant contribution to history?
2. Is the building associated with lives of significant people?
3. Does the building embody characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction?
4. Does the building yield important information in history or prehistory?

Jennifer Price will start the historical survey in mid-January to conduct research on the downtown buildings.  Once Jennifer has completed her research, she can start preparing the Site Inventory Forms that will need to be submitted to the Iowa State Historic Preservation Office.  The reviewing by the State Historic Preservation Office is a requirement for the Downtown Facade Grant.

If any building owner within the Area of Potential Effect would still like to participate in the grant please contact Emily Haselhoff at 712-732-8002 or e-mail Haselhoff@stormlake.org!