Clarke House

Group continues to work to restore Heritage Fund

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[Source: Bonnie Bariola, TriValleyCentral.com] – The Arizona Heritage Alliance continues working toward the reinstatement of the State Parks portion of the Heritage Fund. Heritage Alliance President Elizabeth Woodin said, “since the drastic, secretive removal of half of your Heritage Fund in March 2010 by state legislators, the diverse, enthusiastic, engaged, all-volunteer Arizona Heritage Alliance board and membership have been working ever-more vigorously to increase the visibility of the Heritage Fund to the citizens of Arizona, to protect the Fund and its objectives, and to devise a plan to recapture the plundered dollars and statutory language of the State Parks Heritage Fund.”

The Arizona Heritage Alliance was one of the leaders of the 2013 Environmental Day at the Arizona Capitol in February 2013. Meeting with several bipartisan legislators, Representative Ethan Orr (R-Tucson) agreed to introduce HB 2594, Local Transportation Assistance Fund; Restoration, which would have reinstated the State Parks Heritage Fund in its original form.

Also in February 2013, the House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Committee made a motion that carried by a vote of 8-0-0-0; however, this measure was suppressed in the State House before it could even get a full debate.

In June of 2013, Arizona Heritage Alliance Board President Elizabeth Woodin and Board member Russ Jones (former legislator from Yuma) made a presentation to the Governor’s Natural Resources Review Council (NRRC) regarding the restoration of the State Parks Heritage Fund. They asked the NRRC to recommend to Governor Brewer to put this valuable program back into the state budget, especially the grant program.

Benefits to Florence

The Heritage Fund supplied valuable programs and resources for both Arizona visitors and especially jobs for residents. The Heritage Fund provides economic, environmental, education, tourism, and quality of life benefits that are far too important for this fund to be lost forever.

Florence residents have benefited from the Heritage Fund in the past because it provided grant funds for partial construction costs for: Heritage Park, Clarke House rehabilitation, Silver King Marketplace rehabilitation, Chapel of the Gila and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church rehabilitation, True Value Hardware, 2nd Pinal County Courthouse, several private residences, and the Harvey/Niemeyer House.

Had a Heritage Fund Grant not been in place when the east wall of the Chapel of The Gila collapsed back in the early 1990s, it would have been lost forever. Also, if the Heritage Fund had not been available as the first grant assistance for the Florence Preservation Foundation (FPF), the Silver King/Florence Hotel would have been razed many years ago.  The Heritage Fund provided several Heritage Fund grants for the FPF during the stabilization of the building.

It is also thanks to the Heritage Fund, the FPF, and Donovan Kramer, Sr. for saving the very important Clarke House which is now home to the Florence Reminder and Blade Tribune newspaper.

Members of the Heritage Alliance continue to expand partnerships with historic preservation groups, Arizona League of Cities and Towns, Arizona Parks and Recreation Association, Arizona Forward and other appropriate organizations. Hopefully all of these activities are moving us closer to regaining the missing half of the Heritage Fund, which is an essential building block for a better and stronger quality of life and economic future for all Arizonans.

For additional information about the Arizona Heritage Alliance go to azheritage.org.

(Editor’s Note:  Bonnie Bariola is a member of the Arizona Heritage Alliance representing the Florence Preservation Foundation.)

Just a few examples of what Heritage Fund has done for Florence

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[Source: Bonnie Bariola, TriValleyCentral.com] – For those of you who do not remember, it is thanks to the town of Florence that many of the historic buildings on Main Street have been saved over the years. Through a voter initiative, in 1990 the Heritage Fund was approved by the voters of Arizona. Among other things, this fund provided $1.7 million a year toward historic preservation through a competitive grant process.

Prior to approval of the Heritage Fund, Florence’s Historic District Advisory Commission had been approached by a member of the local Knights of Columbus asking if the Commission supported the rehabilitation of the Chapel of the Gila. The Commission wholeheartedly supported this effort.

Upon receiving the initial criteria for applying for a Heritage Fund, the town’s Community Development Director determined the rehabilitation of the Chapel of the Gila would be a perfect fit. The Knight’s of Columbus member was contacted and the result was a public/private partnership between the town and the Diocese submitting an application — the town prepared and administered the grant and the Diocese provided the matching funds.

The fact that the grant application for the historic Chapel of the Gila ranked first in the first round of Historic Preservation Heritage Fund Grant applications should be mentioned. It should also be noted that before construction began, due to extreme rainfall in the spring, the east wall of the chapel collapsed. Since funding was in place it was possible to save the building; otherwise, it would have been necessary to demolish the entire building. The chapel is always one of the most visited buildings on the annual Tour of Historic Florence.

Clarke House: The William Clarke House has been saved due to the efforts of several organizations and people. Lois Stryker headed a group which put a roof on it prior to the town submitting the first Heritage Fund grant for it’s rehabilitation. Donovan Kramer Sr. then agreed to assume ownership of the property and provide the match for the grant, and the nonprofit Florence Preservation Foundation (FPF) volunteered to assume the administration of the grant. After several additional Heritage Fund Grants and many, many thousands of dollars from Mr. Kramer, this very important building on Main Street is now home to the Florence Reminder and Blade Tribune.

Silver King Hotel: Only with the Heritage Fund, the town of Florence, and the Florence Preservation Foundation are the people of Florence able to have the Florence/Silver King Marketplace as one of the most important buildings on Main Street today. In addition to Heritage Fund Grants and donations, it was necessary to find additional funding for this massive project. Transportation Enhancement Funds could be used for Historic Preservation but were only available to government entities. To obtain funding from this source, the FPF partnered with the town of Florence to obtain these funds. Over the years the Florence Preservation Foundation members prepared two separate applications totaling one million dollars with Town Council members approving these applications being submitted.

Each of these $500,000 grants required a $30,000 match. The town of Florence provided the match for the first grant with economic development monies it had received from the State of Arizona. A Heritage Fund grant written and submitted by the FPF provided match for the second $500,000.

McFarland Park: More recently the town assumed operation of McFarland Historic Park in order to have an additional tourist attraction for both visitors and local residents. State Parks used a portion of the Heritage Funds allocated to them to rehabilitate the building that houses the Park. Once that was completed in 2009, Jay Ream, Assistant Director of Arizona State Parks was asked what the plans for McFarland Park were.His reply was “Due to the extreme budget cuts to the parks system, the only use for McFarland is to lease it for an adaptive reuse.” This message was relayed to Town Manager Himanshu Patel, resulting in the Town Council approving a lease between the town and Arizona State Parks.

The Florence Main Street Board agreed to operate the park in addition to already operating the Florence Visitor Center. Again, after Heritage Funds made possible the rehabilitation of the building, due to a partnership between Arizona State Parks, the town of Florence and the Main Street Program, yet another building on Main Street is open to the public.

In 2010 when the Historic Preservation portion of the Heritage Fund was suspended by the Legislature, Florence had a total of five grants valued at $650,000 which were canceled or suspended. With the required matching funds, 1.3 million dollars would have been added to the local economy and five additional historic properties would have been saved.

Won’t you please contact the governor and your legislators and ask them to reinstate the Heritage Fund.