The LaFayette Historic Preservation Committee will host a “Downtown Design Walk” on Thursday, Oct. 14, to educate citizens on downtown buildings.

The event will help identify significant features and forms of traditional buildings, while discussing preservation philosophy, maintenance techniques for materials, and explore the details that make LaFayette unique.

“This would be a good opportunity for people to find out what makes LaFayette’s downtown buildings special,” LaFayette’s director of economic development Catherine Edgemon said.

Interested parties will meet in front of Suzie’s Sunset Café at 8 a.m. for a welcoming with coffee and an update on the current downtown community appearance design guidelines being written in conjunction with the city code and zoning updates.

The tour will kick off and run from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. with Paul Simo, preservation consultant, heritage preservation and community engagement, and author of a new design guidelines handbook for LaFayette.

“Our firm is working on a new set of historic design guidelines for the downtown designated historic districts of LaFayette,” Simo said. “We will be working with the city of LaFayette and their Historic Preservation Commission over the next 8 to 10 months to produce a set of design guidelines to help guide property owners for the best-practices in maintaining and rehabilitating historic and older properties. This will benefit the community by keeping property values up and nourishing a respect for the older materials, building forms and styles found in North Georgia's traditional downtowns. The guideline document will focus on downtown but will also include residential forms and even mid-century auto-corridor structures. The guidelines will also give a ‘pattern book’ for new construction within the local downtown historic district.”

According to Simo, the educational event and informal "Walk and Talk" are made possible by a grant from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Division and the city of LaFayette.

The event is tailored for interested citizens, owners and business proprietors in the historic commercial and residential areas of downtown LaFayette.

The event will take place rain or shine and comfortable shoes are recommended.

For additional information contact Catherine Edgemon with the city of LaFayette at 706-639-1519. RSVP is suggested.