In Waterloo, grant program aimed at downtown beautification

Time waits for no one and nothing, as we are all aware.

It waits for no one and slowly but surely entropy comes along and wears things down, and so it goes. Fortunately, in Waterloo, when it comes to objects and places where entropy can be restored, ambitious and like-minded individuals actively work to keep things looking fresh.

The Waterloo Community Development Authority is on the job and doing what they can to spruce up historic buildings and scenery in the downtown area.

Included in the Downtown Master Plan for Waterloo is a matching grant program to encourage the beautification of the downtown area. Several organizations are involved with the grant, such as the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation, Avestar Credit Union, the City of Waterloo, and the Waterloo Community Development Authority. Michelle Soter, who is a part of the development authority, weighed in with a little bit about the program and why it’s been brought around.

“We started this grant program to bring some liveliness and beauty to our downtown area,” explained Soter. “The grants make it so any amount of money up to $5,000 will be matched for businesses or building owners who want to improve their property either internally or externally. So far, we have already had a few businesses take advantage of the opportunity, like the flower shop and Luminous Rose.”

Waterloo, which became a village in 1859 and a city in 1962, has a handful of buildings both from the early part of last century and the latter part of the 1800s. The bulk of the buildings in the downtown area were built in a 50-year time period between the 1870s and the 1920s. Of course, over the past century, some of the buildings have been worn down a bit.

Steve Parker, who owns some of the buildings on North Monroe Street, has done the work to take advantage of the grant, and things are underway.

“I’ve used the grant for a couple of different buildings around here,” Parker said. “For the exterior of the building, we work closely with the Waterloo Historical Society to bring the buildings back as close as possible to how they looked originally, down to the color of the trim. We normally try and do the same for the interior, but sometimes there are limiting factors like lead paint or asbestos, which is why we put in drop ceilings sometimes. The grants help, but because there isn’t much money to be made with just the grants, people really have to restore these places for the love of doing it.”

The process to beautify Waterloo will be an ongoing one, so stay tuned for further updates. For more information and upcoming moves to beautify Waterloo, check out the Waterloo Community Development Authority online.