Tybee seeking to record historic properties.

 
[contact-form] [contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Website” type=”url” /] [contact-field label=”Comment” type=”textarea” required=”true” /] [/contact-form] The city of Tybee Island is applying for a state grant to help officials keep a record of the island’s historic properties.

Tybee hopes to get a $30,000 grant from the Historic Preservation Division for the survey. The city would provide $12,000 of that total, mainly through in-kind services.
The last time a survey was conducted of the properties on Tybee, about 450 were noted as historic, but that number now could be as high as 600.

Last May, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Historic Preservation Division announced that Tybee Island had become the 88th city in Georgia to become a certified local government. The designation makes the city eligible for federal and state preservation programs, including the state office’s historic preservation fund grant.
“The last time (a survey) was done was 2003. It’s past due,” Garbett, Tybee council member, said. “Tybee dates back to the 1870s … there’s some magnificent, unique buildings, unique even to the United States. It’s part of our heritage.”
Garbett said the minimum required age for a historic designation is 50, so it’s not surprising that so many new properties might be eligible. The island underwent a great deal of development a half-century ago, and if properties built during that time haven’t been altered too heavily, they could become a part of the state and nation registers of historic places.
The survey is a requirement of the city’s new Certified Local Government designation, Morton said, but it also benefits the owners of properties that are designated historic, because they can be eligible for state and federal tax credits.