Benefits and economic impacts of historic districts and designations to be focus of Sept. 13 CONA meeting

Nonprofit has moved its gatherings to the Sarasota County Fire Station on Waldemere Street in Sarasota and changed its meeting schedule

This is the Fire Station located at 2070 Waldemere St. in Sarasota. It is the new location for CONA meetings, which have been moved to the second Friday of the month. Image from Google Maps

At 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13, members of the Sarasota County Coalition of Neighborhood Associations (CONA) will host a free discussion of the “benefits and economic impacts of historic districts and historic designation, the difference between national and local districts, the processes to create them, and how they may affect individual homeowners on a day-to-day basis,” the nonprofit has announced.

Lorrie Muldowney will serve as moderator, a news release says, while Dave Baber and Erin DiFazio will talk about the topics. “Bring designation questions to submit for discussion,” the release advises members of the public planning to attend the meeting.

Muldowney is a historic preservation consultant based in Sarasota, the release notes. Both she and Baber are active in national preservation efforts and have served as historic preservation officials in local government, the release adds. DiFazio is vice president of the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation.

Following a traditional half-hour networking opportunity at the beginning of the gathering, the release continues, the meeting will open with brief updates about neighborhood issues, a short introduction of the new director of Sarasota County’s Libraries and Historical Resources Department and details about the 2020 Census from a regional U.S. Census partnership specialist.

CONA has changed both the location and the day of the month for its meetings, the release points out. The new location is the meeting room in the Sarasota County Fire Station located at 2070 Waldemere St. in Sarasota, close to Sarasota Memorial Hospital. Sessions will be conducted on the second Friday of each month, except for July and August, unless pressing issues dictate otherwise during those summer months, the release adds.

The networking part of the Sept. 13 session will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by the meeting at 7 p.m.

See www.conasarasota.org/meetings.html for more information about CONA.