Food and beverage tax funds to help keep facade work going

PENDLETON — Several downtown Pendleton storefronts were restored in recent years with the help of state and federal grants.
Now the work to improve the look of downtown will continue thanks to another sizeable grant — $250,000 in Indiana Food and Beverage Tax funds — approved by Madison County Council recently.
“We found out yesterday (Sept. 9) that we were awarded that money to do a facade grant program for downtown Pendleton,” town planner Rachel Christenson said during the Sept. 10 town council meeting. “So the funds should be available in March of 2021.”
The funds, originating from a 1% food and beverage tax in Madison County, will require a 50% match from participating business owners, Christenson said.
“So, there’ll be approximately half a million dollars of investment in the downtown area in the next three years,” Christenson said.
She said Pendleton Historic Preservation Commission will develop an application process for the program, the goal is to begin accepting applications from building owners in early 2021, and funds are expected to be available beginning in the spring.
The town’s grant application cited facade work as the objective, Christenson said, but all of the money doesn’t necessarily have to be spent on that.
“Locally, we can be a little flexible in how we use it,” she said.
In recent years, the town has received other grants to improve downtown facades.
In 2018, a $500,000 Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs grant helped rehabilitate the fronts of five businesses, four on State Street and one on Pendleton Avenue.
Participating building owners contributed $133,674, Pendleton paid $14,214 and other participating community organizations contributed.
Around the same time, Pendleton also received a $50,000 Historic Preservation Fund grant through the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Historic Preservation and Archeology. The money was spent restoring part of the Pendleton Town Hall facade: the portion outside the town’s public meeting room at 102 W. State St.
Jerry Bridges, executive director of Madison County Council of Governments — a subcommittee of which recommended the town’s grant application for county council approval — said past successes helped secure the recommendation for Pendleton’s recent grant application.
“They did really well with the state facade program,” Bridges said. “Hopefully we’re going to see the same results (with the new program).”
Also at Thursday’s meeting:
• Town manager Scott Reske noted the town has hired two new employees:
Brett Mabrey was hired as building inspector, a position to be funded with town utility revenue. Mabrey was formerly chief fire inspector at Anderson Fire Department and a volunteer firefighter in Pendleton.
Denise McKee was hired as a utility customer service representative, also to be paid with utility department funds. McKee was formerly park executive assistant for the town’s parks department.
• Reske also said the town will be able to improve the pedestrian crossing and “walkability” of the area near the intersection of State Street and State Road 67 at the same time Indiana Department of Transportation conducts major construction involving those roadways in 2023.
“INDOT’s going to come through, and they’re going to reconstruct 67, add some travel lanes, turn lanes, that sort of thing,” Reske said. “So they came to (Town Planner) Rachel (Christenson) and said ‘Hey, we got a deal for you. We’ll do an 80/20 split, Pendleton, you put in 20%, this’ll be for design and construction, you can add to our project and improve the pedestrian walkways.”
The project area will include State Street from the train tracks west of State Road 67 to the roundabout east of Pendleton Heights High School; and State Road 67 from Madison Street on the south to State Road 36 on the north.
“We’ll look at putting in medians, crosswalks and sidewalks, of course,” Reske said.
“They are going to be changing the layout,” Reske later said, explaining that the state won’t be simply repaving existing roadway. “They are going to be doing a lot of work, adding some turn lanes.”
The state will pick up 80% of the tab for Pendleton’s added improvements, and Pendleton will pay the remainder.
It’s an even better deal for the town than that split shows, he said, because there will be some work the state will do as part of its project that the town will benefit from without any cost.
“There are things we’re not going to have to pay for (that we would have) had we done it separately on our own,” he said.
The town will look at other options, too, he said. When asked if a pedestrian bridge, such as the one recently installed over I-69, would be considered, he said, “We’re going to explore it … sometimes things work out.”
Current INDOT work in the area is being done to help maintain the roadway until it’s time to do the larger project in a few years, Christenson said.
• The council approved a 10-year, $1,500-per-month lease for 30 parking spaces downtown; the spaces, part of the former BMO Harris bank property at 115 W. State St., will be for public use.
During the meeting, Reske credited council President Chet Babb for helping drive the deal.
“Hats off to Chet Babb,” Reske reiterated later. “He knows the key for businesses is parking.”
Reske said Martin Insurance owns the property; eight additional spots are being reserved for its use.
The town will have the option to extend the lease for five years. The lease remains in effect if the property is sold to someone else, Reske said, and it contains “first right of refusal” verbiage that gives the town priority to purchase the property if it is put up for sale.
“This will be really, really good for downtown businesses,” Reske said.
• Reske said more than 15 people attended a “very successful” public open house to gather information on local flooding issues. Even better, he said, 50 people filled out surveys about flooding locations. “The engineers use that to begin to figure out where the issues are,” Reske said. “Nobody knows flooding better than the people who have to live with it.”
• The council approved a $10,000 contract with Indianapolis engineering firm GRW to develop town street standards. Reske said the goal will be to align local standards with those for Madison County and Anderson, to keep things uniform for contractors. Christenson said street standards are part of an ongoing effort to move the town’s planning department forward. Reske said street standards also are required to receive certain grants.