At a called meeting of the Downtown Development Authority on Tuesday, members approved two Faade Incentive Grant Program applications.

The program provides up to $1,000 for the improvement of downtown building faade.

Prior to approval of the applications, which totaled $711.55, DDA member Tom Conger expressed the need for more stringent guidelines for applicants of the grant.

Conger expressed the desire to receive recommendations from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, which has provided on-site consultations, design, drawings and even technical assistance in preserving and restoring Georgia cities on renovation projects that wish to acquire the faade grant.

“I don’t want to make it mandatory, but get the Georgia Trust’s stamp of approval and feedback to make the downtown area as good as it can look,” Conger said.

Chairman Al Collins said he agreed with imposing future guidelines on facades, but they would need to be put in place at a future date—not applying the current applications up for approval.

The authority agreed to look into changing the guidelines for faade grant at their next meeting.

The first application came from the Water Street Condo Association, for the replacement of the existing awning covers at 302 E. Water St., for $187.25.

The second application was from James D. York, the president of the Water Street Condo Association, for the replacement of the awning cover at 306 and 308 E. Water St. for $524.30. The bid for the work came from Awnings Plus Inc. out of Albany, Ga.

The DDA will have $6,817.20 remaining in grant money devoted to the faade program for their fiscal year, which ends Sept. 31.