The new National Register Historic District recently formed in the Village of Schoharie is now formally listed on both the New York State and the National Registers of Historic Places.
Owners of a house or commercial building within the Schoharie National Register Historic District may now qualify for a state or federal historic tax credit.
According to Mayor Larry Caza, the tax credit for residential properties equals 20 percent of the repair costs; for commercial properties, it equals 40 percent of the repair costs.
The tax credits are one of the benefits of being in a historic district, he said.
Eligible expenses include both interior and exterior work, and owners can undertake a variety of repairs or replacements as long as the work does not significant change the buildings overall historic appearance.
Work must meet the Secretary of Interior Standards, which are a set of guidelines that focus on repairing historic materials, retaining character-defining features, replacing missing or damaged materials in-kind, and preserving important interior spaces.
The State and National Registers are the official lists of properties significant in history, architecture, and culture.
More than 120,000 properties in the state have received this recognition.
The Village of Schoharie is home to many significant historic structures including the Old Stone Fort Museum, Schoharie Railroad Museum and Depot Lane Complex, the 1724 Lutheran Parsonage, the Parrot House and others, and the recently-created Village of Schoharie National Historic District covers a large part of the village, including all residential and commercial structures along Main Street.
Creation of such a historic district was originally proposed in the village’s 1997 Comprehensive Plan, and then again in the Long-Term Recovery Plan after the flooding from Hurricane Irene and in a recently adopted Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan.
The village received grant funding from the Preservation League of New York to complete a historic inventory and mapping for creation of the historic district.
“We are very proud that we have so many intact historic resources in our village,” said Mayor Caza.
“Our historic character is one of the biggest assets we have in Schoharie and is something we can build our economic development on. We hope that the tax credits will encourage rehabilitation and reuse of some of our significant historic structures on Main Street such as the Parrott House. We see these tax credits as an important and positive economic development incentive in the Village of Schoharie.”
In addition to the historic tax credits, the Village has secured other grant funding available to help rehabilitate the Parrott House. The Schoharie Community Development Corporation is also available to assist business development in the Village.
For more information on the Village of Schoharie National Register Historic District and the tax credit program, contact Mayor Caza at mayor.scho@midtel.net and www.nysparks.ny.gov/shpo/tax-credit-programs/