One of Oxford’s five historic districts will be resurveyed in the coming months.

During Tuesday’s Board of Aldermen meeting, a request was made to hire Judith Johnson and Associates to resurvey the South Lamar Historic District. Johnson will also prepare an update to the National Register District Nomination of the surveyed area.

Johnson was also involved in the Avent Acres project, which is awaiting final word on the national level regarding their National Registry status.

This will be the first time in 19 years the district will be surveyed. All five historic districts — Courthouse Square District, Depot District, Jefferson Madison District, North Lamar District and the South Lamar District — were surveyed for the first time in 2000.

“As you know a lot has changed in five years, let alone 20 years,” Ben Requet, Oxford’s director of planning, told the Board. “We actually think maybe there a big chunk that they bit off when it was originally identified as district. We kind of anticipate it might shrink a little bit.”

South Lamar’s Historic District is the biggest of the five districts in Oxford. Requet also stated there is a chance nothing would change or be removed from the current district, but that nothing would be done without proper notification of the residents and public hearings on the matter following the completion of the surveys.

The project will be done in two phases. The first will include an intense survey of the district, which will examine tax records, subdivision plat maps and other historical data relative to recent development of the area. There will be pictures taken and all resources of the district will be inventoried. This phase is expected to be completed by Dec. 15.

The second phase will consist of evaluating the surveys done in the first phase as well as the Local District boundaries and the National Register listing to determine if modifications are needed. This work is expected to be completed by April 30, 2020 with a presentation to be given to the Mississippi Historic Preservation Professional Review Board at their July 16, 2020 meeting.

The contracted services will cost $10,000, but are a budgeted item by the City.