POULSBO — Upon entering the city, visitors and residents are greeted with a sign reading “Welcome to historic Poulsbo.”
Now more than ever, the Poulsbo Historical Society is determined to keep it that way.
The PHS presented a certified local government program — a program through which Poulsbo’s buildings, both residential and commercial, 50 years old and older, will qualify their owners for special tax valuations, grants and renovation help — to the city council last week. Chances of an ordinance being adopted on its behalf look promising.
The plan offers the city the power to protect property owners by placing buildings on a local historical registry and calls for an establishment of an historical preservation committee. Once the committee is put in place, it can add buildings to the local registry, and the benefits from the state will start flowing, said PHS curator Erica Varga. But first, an ordinance for the plan must be written and adopted by the city.
“The next step is to write an ordinance that the city adopts, and fine tune it to make it specific to our community,” she said. “Preservation happens at a local level. To not take advantage of a state program like that, it’s just, it’s almost negligent in a way.”
Poulsbo Mayor Kathryn Quade said she’d like to have the program in place by the end of the year.
“I really like this idea,” she said. “It seems like a no-brainer.”
Councilwoman Connie Lord, who lives in an historic 1901 home and said she would sign up for the registry, offered her services to the PHS in getting the program running.
“It really is win-win,” she said. “They finally came up with a pathway to preserving significant structures that the community really appreciates and at the same time give property owners a break. People that want to voluntarily put their home on that list qualify for perks, a lot of incentives so we can preserve the old town feel of Poulsbo.”
Lord said while the council needs more information on the workings of the process, she is confident it will pass.
“It’s well worth doing,” she said. “I’m very confident that it’s going to become available. I’m very excited and grateful the historical society took the lead.”
More than 1,228 U.S. cities currently participate in the CLG program, 38 of them are in Washington state. Theirs is an influence Poulsbo should follow, Varga said.
“Protecting the past is an investment in the future,” she said. “Our whole mission is to try to preserve some of the original character of the city, strike a balance between growth and change.”
PHS member Judy Driscoll said the program could be a perfect centennial birthday present for the city.
“Poulsbo has a unique and tangible heritage,” she said. “Presenting it was the first step toward to getting this all set up. At this point, we’re still learning a lot about it, too. It’s going to be interesting to see. As people understand it, I think we’ll get quite a large response.”
Driscoll said often the inherent confusion that placement on a registry prevents an owner from changing anything in their home keeps people from taking advantage of programs like this one.
“It’s overcoming that fear that people have that they’ll lose control,” she said. “It’s not meant to box you in. With developers coming into the area, it’s to protect existing properties.”
The program will begin just within Poulsbo’s city limits, but there is a possibility for outlying buildings to join the registry once it is established, Driscoll said.
“We’re in a situation right now where the town is changing a lot as new businesses come in and develop,” she said. “Poulsbo is popular because of its history. We’re hoping to preserve some of that.”
