All Members of Heritage Preservation Commission Granted Voting Authority

(KNSI) — St. Cloud is granting all members of the Heritage Preservation Commission voting authority.

The city council made the decision at Monday’s meeting. Before the change, only seven of the nine-member commission could vote.

Community Development Director Matt Glaesman talked with KNSI News immediately after the meeting and explained why giving all nine members voting power was important. “All those members have expertise. It might be in real estate. It might be in architecture. It might be in other historic professions. But bringing all nine of those experts to the table to be able to cast a vote is important because it just creates for a more informed vote.”

Glaesman says the board has two main responsibilities. “One is to be an advocate and a resource for those that want to invest in their historic properties. But they also have that regulatory role where they respond to alteration permit requests. If someone wants to make a change to their exterior windows, their doors, their roofing, they have to come through the body to make sure that those improvements are historic in nature and appropriate for that house.”

The board has authority in the commercial district along West St. Germain Street in the downtown district and historic residential areas such as in the Highbanks neighborhood, Pantown or the southeast side around University Drive.

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