Historic preservation funds at risk for Indiana

INDIANA - A historic preservation nonprofit is sounding the alarm that important federal funding hasn't been released. It said this could impact hundreds of projects across the state of Indiana.




Indiana Landmarks is a statewide historic preservation organization with a mission to save historic places that have character and contribute to the state's economy.




The organization posted a call to action to its website and social media pages in May, calling attention to federal funding that is at risk.




Mark Dollase, the vice president of preservation services for Indiana Landmarks, said last October, the U.S. Congress approved around $150 million for the Historic Preservation Fund to be distributed across all 50 states.




He said that money does not come from taxpayers, but comes from offshore oil leases.




Indiana usually gets about $1 million of that, Dollase said. However, Indiana Landmarks' post said more than $570,000 in allocated funding for preservation is on hold for Indiana, "delaying projects to rejuvenate historic landmarks in Pendleton, Bremen, Plymouth, Howe and other communities."

The Historic Preservation Fund money goes to the state's Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology through the Department of Natural Resources.




According to the DHPA website, it conducts statewide surveys of historic buildings, districts and landscapes. It is the repository of natural register nominations, it does environmental reviews of state and federal action of affected historic archaeological sites and it handles grant assistance for historic preservation projects.




Indiana Landmarks said DPHA is currently managing projects worth $40 million in local investment through the Historic Tax Credit Program. 




Dollase said much of the money that has been appropriated but hasn't been distributed is used to staff the DPHA office. He said if the organization can't staff its office, these projects across the entire state will be impacted.




"So that means buildings aren't going to be rehabbed," he said. "Investment won't be made into our communities. Jobs will not be created because these create construction jobs and the jobs for the businesses that go into the building."




There is concern that other projects that have funding will come to a halt without DPHA to administer and track the money.








One example of this kind of project is the Bottleworks revitalization on Massachusetts Avenue in downtown Indianapolis, where the Historic Tax Credit program helped pay for 20% of $200 million project.




Dollase said not only are the already appropriated funds not being released, but continued funding is not included in the current One Big Beautiful Bill Act currently being debated in the Senate.




The National Trust for Historic Preservation said that bipartisan legislation was introduced last month to reauthorize the Historic Preservation Fund last month. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources but no action has been taken so far.




FOX59/CBS4 reached out to the Indiana DNR for an interview about this situation. Spokesperson Marty Benson sent us a statement saying, "We're closely monitoring the future of the historic preservation fund and how it will impact the operations of state and federal historic preservation programs."




Indiana Landmarks said now is the for people who want to see this funding preserved to call Senators Jim Banks and Todd Young as the budget bill is being debated this week in the U.S. Senate.





via: https://fox59.com/indiana-news/historic-preservation-funds-at-risk-for-indiana/