Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
The historic district in downtown Warsaw could potentially be updated and expanded, depending on a study’s findings.
Main Street Warsaw (MSW) Director of Downtown Development Terry Sweeney told the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety on Friday that MSW was asking for approval to enter into a contract with a consultant to research and update the National Register of Historic Places district in downtown Warsaw. He said it hasn’t been updated since 1992.
“It was recommended that we do this by Indiana Landmarks. There’s some opportunities here and some of the private properties could benefit from that eligibility for tax credits if they do renovations,” Sweeney said.
Brent Martin, architect with SKRM and president of MSW until Dec. 31, said, “I just think it makes sense after 30 years to update the plan and we’ve got a proposal from an historian to do so. That’s a conversation that goes on with Main Street, the historian and the Indiana Department of Historic Preservation in order to establish whether or not there would be new boundaries. I kind of expect there might be, but we’ll find out. But we want the city’s concurrence then that’s it’s OK to start that process.”
The original boundaries listed in The National Register of Historic Places were created in 1982. They were updated in 1993. The boundaries include West Main, West Lake, Center and South Indiana streets and the alleys behind Indiana, Market, Lake and Main streets, according to a provided map.
City Planner Justin Taylor said, “The request today is just to authorize ... them to enter that agreement and then potentially expand the district. So, we just wanted to make sure we’re in alignment with the city’s wishes, knowing that that’s the protocol for grant applications. So, it’s kind of a unique request but we’re just authorizing Main Street to pursue this update. The city is not entering into the agreement with the historian.”
Councilwoman Diane Quance made a motion authorizing MSW to enter into an agreement to update and potentially expand the Warsaw Courthouse Square Historic District. Mayor Jeff Grose seconded the motion, which was passed 2-0. Board member George Clemens was absent.
Martin said once the historian finished his work, they will keep the city advised of what that looks like.
“The historian’s work doesn’t really take a tremendous amount of time, but the process - first you get state approval of the district boundaries, then it goes actually to the National Park Service for concurrence. That’s going to take several months. I just know it will,” he said, estimating it will take 18 months total. “It will take a fair amount of time.”
Next, Taylor presented a request to submit an application for the Lilly Endowment Community Parks Initiative Phase I Planning Grant on behalf of the city for the parks system.
“This opportunity is a two-phase Lilly Community Parks Initiative grant, so the first phase that we will be requesting permission to apply for, which is due Oct. 30, is for a $100,000 planning grant, and that will help facilitate the Parks Department public engagement portion of the funds. And then there would be a second phase that could make the city eligible for up to $2.75 million to improve our park system,” Taylor said.
Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department Superintendent Larry Plummer said it was a great opportunity that Lilly was presenting to them.
Quance said, “I just think it’s a great example of public and private partnerships in order to achieve the good of the community, so these would not be taxpayer dollars that are going toward this, but a private company investing in our community and I think that we should pursue as many of these kind of things as we can so I don’t know who found it, but thank you very much.”
Taylor said the Warsaw Planning Department’s graduate assistant, Niger Sultana, is helping with the application and “she’s doing a great job putting all the documents together, getting everything ready because it is a quick turnaround so I just wanted to publicly thank her for those efforts.”
Quance made a motion to approve an application be submitted to Lilly Endowment for the Community Parks Initiative Phase I, which was approved.
