The Kirksville Historic Preservation Commission is working to establish some ground rules for downtown construction to maintain Kirksville’s historic character.
The commission is conducting surveys of downtown properties with the hope of creating a “design and review” ordinance.
The commission wants to establish new guidelines for what buildings can and cannot be built in downtown Kirksville in order to preserve a cultural environment.
Brad Selby is one of the Staff Representatives for the Kirksville Historic Preservation Commission.
“We have a lot of historic buildings downtown," Selby says."We think that that would take away from the value of those buildings and the flavor of the downtown, if you will."
But, that does not mean that the new buildings necessarily have to fit a certain mold.
“It does not require it to be absolutely historic, but it does require it not to conflict, and that’s what we want to do to protect these existing property owners and people that put a lot of money into their property to bring it back to a historic architectural look,” Selby says.
Selby says the commission is currently in the process of gathering surveys for the business owners.