Disaster Relief Grants Available for Historic Properties Impacted by Hurricane Sandy

Preliminary applications for relief grants should be submitted to the RI Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission by August 1, 2013.

From the Narragansett-South Kingstown Patch

In late October 2012, Hurricane Sandy churned up the Atlantic coast. Twenty-four states from Maine to Florida and west across the Appalachian Mountains to Wisconsin felt the impact of the largest recorded Atlantic hurricane and the second costliest in United States history.

In Rhode Island, the storm surge peaked at high tide around 8:30 p.m. on Monday, October 29 with winds of up to 86 mph in Westerly and gusts over 50 mph in most parts of the state. While there were reports of damage across the state, Block Island, Westerly, and many of the communities on the Atlantic coast bore the brunt of the hurricane.

Rhode Island had previously experienced more devastating storms. The Hurricane of 1938 destroyed most buildings and structures along Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, causing $100 million in property damage along the coast and throughout the state. Historic resources that survived the Hurricane of ’38 as well as Hurricane Carol in 1954 and other major storms, only to be damaged by Hurricane Sandy, may be eligible for a new federal disaster relief program.

The National Park Service recently announced that $47 million is available in Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Grants for Historic Properties in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission (RIHPHC) will administer $3 million in grants for projects that preserve and/or rehabilitate historic properties and sites impacted by Hurricane Sandy in the state.

Eligible properties must be listed on the National Register of Historic Places or must meet the criteria for listing on the National Register. Grants are available for privately-owned properties (such as residences and commercial buildings), nonprofit-owned properties (such as historic sites) and public (nonfederal) properties (such as state- and municipally-owned buildings and historic parks).

Edward F. Sanderson, Executive Director of the RIHPHC, said, “Last October, Hurricane Sandy and the Atlantic Ocean battered the Ocean State. These federal grants will help owners repair historic properties that were damaged and preserve Rhode Island’s heritage.”

Owners of historic properties and sites impacted by Hurricane Sandy are invited to submit a preliminary application for Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Grants for Historic Properties. All work performed on a historic property that receives a grant will be reviewed by RIHPHC and must be approved as meeting the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

The preliminary application and a grants Questions-and-Answers page are available on the RIHPHC website (www.preservation.ri.gov) and upon request by calling (401)222-4142. The deadline for filing a preliminary application is August 1, 2013.