Lincoln’s Country Club Neighborhood has been named to the National Register of Historic Places — becoming the city’s largest National Register district and one of the largest in Nebraska.

City planner and historian Ed Zimmer gathered data for the historic designation application for more than a decade, but didn’t hear the good news about the fruit of his labor for a month after the decision.

The official action was taken Dec. 10. But Zimmer doesn’t read the Federal Register so he didn’t hear about it until being notified a month later by the State Historical Society.

Last year, the State Historic Preservation Board recommended the 450-acre area be listed on the National Register.

“I’m pleased that the special character of this area is now officially recognized, 100 years after the Woods brothers began the development of Sheridan Boulevard,” Zimmer said. “We all benefit when past public and private investment continues to provide a desirable residential area, and the Boulevards Historic District is exactly that.”

The “Boulevards Historic District” encompasses about 1,250 houses roughly bordered South Street to the north, Rock Island Trail to the east (excluding the Rathbone Village commercial area), Calvert and High streets to the south and 22nd and 24th streets on the west.

What does the designation mean for the people who live in those houses?

“That warm feeling you’ve been experiencing since December is the main change for homeowners,” Zimmer joked.

Homeowners generally like the distinction of living in a historic district, particularly when it comes time to sell their homes. Bob Beecham, president of the Country Club Neighborhood Association, said the possibility of increased property values was one of the reasons the neighborhood association supported the nomination.

“We’re thrilled that it got approved,” Beecham said Friday.

Contrary to an urban myth, homeowners in historic districts do not have to deal with more bureaucracy if they renovate their homes, Zimmer said. In fact, homeowners become eligible for state and federal historic preservation tax incentive programs.

A Nebraska incentive program allows an eight-year property tax freeze on homes that are “substantially improved” — defined as renovations equal to 25 percent of the home’s assessed valuation — in an “historically appropriate” manner.

The Country Club Neighborhood Association also hoped the historic designation would make it harder to widen 27th Street through the historic neighborhood. However, the designation would only be an obstacle if federal money or approval were involved in a widening. In that case, the impact on the historic district would have to be considered.

And that was already the case, Zimmer said, because the federal rules also apply to areas that are eligible to be on the national register because they’re more than 50 years old and historically significant.

Zimmer said a widening through the Country Club would have already triggered additional federal review, because almost all the homes in the district were built before 1958.

Assistant City Engineer Randy Hoskins said in any case, the 2030 Comprehensive Plan — a sort of city-county master plan — doesn’t contemplate a 27th Street widening. The plan must be rewritten by 2011, presenting the next opportunity for that to change.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.