Local church claims historic district application skirts full history

Residents hope to turn a Jefferson City neighborhood into a specially designated historic district, but a local church claims the application’s boundary lines leave out the full picture.

Laura Ward, Second Ward city councilwoman and sponsor of the application, says one reason 75 percent of the homeowners in the area signed the application was because of their limited ability to renovate.

The reason: most of the neighborhood sits on a floodplain.

A federal rule, the Substantial Improvement Clause, prohibits the city from issuing any renovation permits if the home sits on a floodplain and the cost exceeds 50 percent of the home’s assessed value.

For example, a home that sits on a floodplain can not acquire a renovation permit for a $10,000 project if the home’s value is assessed at $20,000 or less.

“Renovation could be updating your wiring , plumbing,” Ward said. “And all of these projects are high ticket dollar items that can’t be done to these buildings.”

The application claims the area is historically significant because of its role in the black community. That claim has drawn criticism from many at Quinn Chapel Church, which sits immediately outside the proposed boundary lines.

“If you’re going to say that you are doing this to preserve, in particularly, African American history, you don’t get to do it without Quinn Chapel,” Quinn Chapel pastor Cassandra Gould said.

“They cannot do this without Quinn Chapel,” Gould said. “As we noted, we are the oldest black entity in the city, which in many ways black history in the city started with us.”

The church was founded in 1852 by slaves and free blacks and is the oldest black organization in Jefferson City. Quinn Chapel is near the historically black college Lincoln University.

The application will be discussed at Monday’s meeting of the Jefferson City Council.