SPOKANE, Wash. — A proposal to turn the Cliff-Cannon neighborhood into a historic district will go before Spokane City Council for the first time at its Monday meeting. The district would be called the "Cannon Streetcar Suburb Historic District."
This distinction would ensure any current or future owners of the area's homes would have to preserve their original historic value.
Spokane's Cliff-Cannon neighborhood is riddled with historic homes, and the people living in these homes feel a sense of responsibility to preserve their history.
Birgitta Hendron has always been drawn to the historic charm her hometown has to offer. Which is why she's committed to preserving her 117-year-old home the best she can.
"I'm a resident yes, but I am also a steward," Hendron said. "I am one in a line of five or six families who has taken care of this house. If I do it properly, it will outlast me and it should."
Hendron owns a home already listed in the national register of historic places: the "Shadle-Veasy House." But a proposal spearheaded by her fellow Cliff-Cannon stewards would turn the whole neighborhood into a historic district. Which is a move that Hendron supports.
"It's absolutely about preserving what we have at a base line level and enabling people to innovate in a way that keeps our neighborhood feeling like it's our neighborhood," Hendron said.
475 homes that roughly surround the Huckleberry's on Monroe Street would be part of the district.
It would establish standards and guidelines with the goal of maintaining the historic character of the buildings and the district. Home improvement incentives would be made available, but some believe they favor the wealthy.
One public comment said, "The Special Valuation Property Tax Incentive in its current form substantially favors the wealthy or financially well-connected, and works against the low and middle income people. It is therefore a regressive property tax subsidy that is quite clearly socially unequitable. Furthermore, many low- and middle-income people in the Cliff streetcar Neighborhood own contributing houses than have just as high a need for substantial restoration as wealthy homeowners."
Still, the historic district has wide support from the neighborhood.
"My house is as lovely as it is today because 117 years of people prior to me were dedicated to keeping it that way," Hendron said. "And I'm very interested in not letting down the team."
And that's why Hendron and her fellow stewards are eager to do their part in maintaining some of Spokane's history---while also being a part of it.
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