Point Roberts receives Main Street affiliate status

Point Roberts will take the first step to becoming a Main Street community next year.

In an October 8 letter to Point Roberts Community Advisory Committee (PRCAC) president Allison Calder Jonelle McCoy, Main Street specialist with the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation said PRCAC had been accepted as an affiliate of the Washington Main Street Program (WSMSP), effective January 1, 2022.

“The purpose of the WSMSP affiliate designation is to provide access to resources and networking opportunities for entities that have an interest in revitalizing their downtown or neighborhood commercial district,” McCoy wrote. “As an affiliate, Point Roberts can take advantage of services and benefits through the WSMSP in order to grow in your capacity and expertise in asset-based revitalization.”

The Main Street program uses a four-point approach to revitalizing the community’s commercial core through preservation-based economic development.

The four points include: building a representative organization with broad community support; promotion and event planning; design, preservation and improvement of the district’s assets; fostering economic vitality.

There are over 1,200 cities and towns in 40 states with Main Street programs. State representative Alicia Rule, who brought the program to Blaine in her time as a city council member, has been supportive of the benefits it could bring to the Point.

The affiliate program is often the starting point to becoming officially designated as a Main Street Community, which will qualify the local organization for the Main Street tax credit program, through which businesses that donate receive a tax credit for 75 percent of the donation amount.

“This is like their launch,” McCoy said. “They are going to be exploring the Main Street approach with the idea that down the road they may become a designated community.”

One of the challenges will be determining what is the commercial core of Point Roberts. “It could be a challenge but that’s what the work of being an affiliate is,” McCoy said. “What is your downtown? What businesses want to be part of it? How does the community want to participate?”

Calder said PRCAC was likely a temporary umbrella for the Main Street program on the Point, and that they would establish a separate nonprofit organization in the new year. That organization will work with WSMSP staff to develop a framework and vision for “community drives, comprehensive downtown revival.”

If the Point becomes a designated Main Street Community funds raised through the tax credit program can be used as matching funds for grants, and to develop or revive events that bring people to Point Roberts. “We’d like to see the Arts and Crafts Festival back, or something like it,” Calder said.