In its more than 180-year history, downtown Seguin has seen its fair share of fires that have damaged historic buildings, destroyed businesses and led to loss of revenue for the local economy. On Tuesday, July 21, the Seguin City Council took a step to make fires a thing of the past in downtown Seguin with the creation of the Protect It Grant.
The “Protect It” Grant program offers property owners of downtown historic properties a reimbursement of up to 50% of the costs of eligible expenses toward the installation of a fire suppression system. In addition to the grant, City of Seguin Water Utilities will purchase and install the tap at no cost to the property owner.
Property owners of existing structures located within the local downtown historic district that have reached 50 years in age are eligible to apply for this grant. Eligible expenses for the grant funding include:
Design & Engineering
Traffic Control
Construction and installation of fire line from tap to the building
Riser, sprinkler heads and piping of fire lines throughout the interior
Preparation and filing of legal documents.
Funding limits are determined by the size of the building(s) being protected and other factors like location of the building and number of properties being served by the new system.
“It is our hope that this grant program will encourage the installation of these systems to protect our historic buildings,” says Kyle Kramm, Director of the Seguin Main Street and CVB office. “Seguin’s downtown district has the potential for more development, so we want to make it easier for property owners to take that next step.”
The “Protect It” Grant program is now open. Applications may be submitted year-round to the Seguin Main Street Office. The Seguin Main Street staff, in partnership with City Management, Fire and Legal, will review the application and determine funding amount per applicant. Complete guidelines and online applications will be available at www.seguintexas.gov/protect-it.
The addition of this grant is one more tool to further the revitalization of downtown Seguin. The City of Seguin also offers façade grants, permit fee waivers, infrastructure assistance, marketing, design assistance, small business trainings and more to encourage the revitalization of downtown Seguin.