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Item C22BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: October 17, 2007 Bulk Item: Yes ® No ❑ Division: Budget and Finance Department: Grants Administration Staff Contact Person: David P. Owens AGENDA ITEM WORDING: Approval to advertise a Request for Qualifications for the Tavernier Historic District intensive level survey and publication ITEM BACKGROUND: With the County's designation in 2005 of the Tavernier Historic District, there is a need for more documented historical information Two different audiences need this. Staff needs better information to provide the professional direction and reports necessary for increased applications for Certificates of Appropriateness Additionally, some property owners in the district especially recent buyers may have little or no information or appreciation about who lived and worked in their buildings wh1r they are historically significant, or why they should preserve them This study will be funded 50% by a Historic Preservation Grant (state funds) and 50% by County match PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION: Approval to apply for Historic Preservation grant at Nov 2006 meeting. Approval of grant contract with Florida Dept of State at Sept. 2007 meeting. CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES: n/a STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Approval TOTAL COST: $25,000.00 COST TO COUNTY: $25,000.00 REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes ❑ No BUDGETED: Yes X _ No SOURCE OF FUNDS: Ad Valorem Taxes AMOUNT PER MONTH YEAR APPROVED BY: COUNTY ATTY ❑ OMB/PURCHASING ❑ RISK MANAGEMENT ❑ DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL: Sheila A. Barker DOCUMENTATION: INCLUDED: ❑ NOT REQUIRED: ❑ DISPOSITION: AGENDA ITEM #: Draft RFQ Tavernier Historic District Intensive -level survey and publication Grant summary and scope of work: Too little has been written on each of the buildings in the Tavernier Historic District. With the County's designation in 2005 of the Tavernier Historic District, there is a need for more documented historical information. Two different audiences need this. Staff needs better information to provide the professional direction and reports necessary for increased applications for Certificates of Appropriateness. Additionally, some property owners in the district, especially recent buyers, may have little or no information or appreciation about who lived and worked in their buildings, why they are historically significant, or why they should preserve them. Staff designed the 2003 survey as a reconnaissance -level or "windshield" survey, designed to cast a wide net - countywide - to identify potentially historic buildings from Key Largo to Stock Island. This successful project identified 288 previously unknown historic buildings, including a number of those that the County subsequently integrated into the Tavernier Historic District. But now that the district is designated, there is need for more. There are no books or brochures specifically about the buildings in the district. Sadly, with current information, it is even difficult to attach family names to individual structures. Extensive historical research will be done on each of the historic buildings in the Tavernier Historic District. Sources to be consulted could include deeds, census records, vital records, phone books, business records, historic photographs, oral history, architectural and building records - in addition to the buildings themselves. Any property within the Tavernier Historic District that is fifty years old or more will be included in the project, regardless of whether or not it is currently considered to be contributing. Currently noncontributing buildings will have Florida site files prepared for them. But the result will not simply be an updated version of the existing windshield survey: It will be a published "intensive -level" survey with a strong public education component, fleshing out the bare -bones information currently available, telling the stories of these buildings and making a case for why they are significant. The final product will be a history of the built environment of Tavernier. This will consist of a series of building histories, written in prose that is thoroughly footnoted while still being readable. An introduction summarizing the physical development of the community would also be appropriate, along with a timeline, black -and -white photographs, and maps. The format should be downloadable as a PDF document and in a size that is easily able to be printed off a computer or photocopied, and stapled for hardcopy distribution. Qualifications: Because of the nature of this project, three distinct qualifications are required: 1. Skill and experience doing original research - documentary, pictorial, and physical - on historic buildings 2. Skill and experience in writing the histories of buildings in an historic district in soundly documented but accessible and easily readable prose 3. Skill and experience in graphic design to present findings - text, pictures, etc. - in an attractive publishable format The selection committee will be looking for demonstrated ability in each of these areas. Timeline and progress reports: Due to the parameters of the state grant funding cycle, work must be completed by June 30, 2008. No extensions will be granted. The successful bidder should plan on meetings and updates to the local supervisory agency at least monthly, demonstrating adequate progress toward the goal. Because of the tripartite form of this project - research, writing, and publication - particular emphasis will be placed on completing each of these three stages before proceeding with the next - or concluding the project. The successful bidder should expect reports at each of the three quarters - ending December 31, 2007; March 30, 2008; and June 30, 2008 - to address each of these three major components. Progress reports will allow local agencies, authorities, and societies to comment on the ongoing work, and the successful bidder will take these comments into account. All work must be done in accordance with the terms of the County's Historic Preservation Grant Award Agreement for the Tavernier Intensive Level Survey and Publication Project with the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Historical Resources.