La Plata preservation commission advances 5‑year plan but flags staffing and funding shortfalls
Summary
The commission outlined five priority initiatives — plaque program, oral history, firehouse museum, historic resource survey and comprehensive plan alignment — but commissioners and staff said current budgets and staffing likely won’t cover the proposed work without council backing.
La Plata’s Historic Preservation Commission reviewed a proposed five‑year work plan during an Aug. 1 workshop and recommended focusing early effort on a plaque program, oral histories, a historic resource survey and preparatory steps toward Certified Local Government (CLG) status, while flagging that the commission’s budget and town staff capacity are insufficient to complete all proposed items in a single fiscal year. Commissioners identified five near-term priorities: expand the town plaque (PLAC) program, develop an oral-history program tied to markers, establish a resource survey to identify significant buildings and sites, continue work toward CLG certification and use the comprehensive plan update to reinforce preservation goals. Staff and commissioners repeatedly emphasized the work plan must be phased to match available staff time and budget. The commission had requested $8,000 for the fiscal cycle but the town budget allocated $3,000, a commissioner said. Historic resource surveys are resource-intensive; staff estimated the work likely exceeds simple line-item estimates (one staff comment said a proper survey would cost “way more than $43,000”). Staff recommended timing a full town-wide resource survey to align with the comprehensive-plan update (the planner noted that a comp-plan cycle starting in 2027–28 would be a logical point to tie survey results into policy). The commission also discussed lower-cost, near-term work that could produce visible results: completing a plaque program application/criteria and publishing it online, repackaging existing train-station exhibit material for a town-hall display, and establishing a “preservation professionals” referral list for residents seeking expertise (staff described that list as a lower-priority, low-cost item). A digitization project for historic town records and donated artifacts was proposed as a volunteer or clerk-driven project but staff cautioned that digitization programs require sustained time to complete. Staff said they would bring a draft work plan and a brief for the council describing priorities, staffing implications and budget needs; the council must formally weigh in and set direction if the HPC’s agenda is to expand beyond volunteer-run activities. No formal vote was taken at the workshop; staff will present the draft plan to the council and return with council guidance and budget direction.
