Historic Preservation Commission wins $20,000 grant, hires Northwest Vernacular

Ray Lindenberg, senior planner, told the Oak Harbor Historic Preservation Commission that the State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation awarded the commission the $20,000 grant it requested.

"I am here to share good news. We were granted our grant. The, State Department of, Archaeology and Historic Preservation has granted us the $20,000 that we requested," Lindenberg said, adding that staff selected a consulting firm to do the work.

Lindenberg said staff interviewed several firms and chose Northwest Vernacular, and identified contacts there as Spencer and Katie. He provided the firm's website as nwvhp.com and said staff expect to set up a meeting with Northwest Vernacular and Wendy Horn, the commission’s grants administrator, to finalize contracting.

Lindenberg told commissioners some disbursements tied to the grant have been delayed and that the project will therefore begin later than originally planned. "We do have some time built into the process to get that work done, and I'm not, not at all concerned that we'll get it done in time," he said.

Commission member Nick Hamden praised staff for their presentation and outreach, noting he expressed his support via the meeting chat.

Lindenberg said staff will provide regular updates at the commission’s every-other-month meetings and that Northwest Vernacular will likely present preliminary findings either in person or virtually when the work is underway. He also said he would follow up to provide commissioners with the list of other grant recipients and award amounts when that information is available.

The commission did not take a separate formal vote on the consultant selection during the meeting; Lindenberg said staff are proceeding with contract preparations and will return to the commission with progress updates.