Heritage Trust Fund

Quick Facts:

Properties must be listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the Register of Historic Kansas Places to qualify for the program. The HTF finances activities that preserve or restore historic properties. Qualifying expenses include professional fees and construction costs. Properties owned by the state or federal governments are not eligible. Individual grant awards may not exceed $90,000 and must be matched by the grant recipient. Information workshops are held throughout the year at various locations around the state.

• HTF Program Information
• HTF Program Options
• Application Procedure
• Deadlines
• General Funding Conditions
• Eligible Properties
• Eligible Activities
• Ineligible Activities
• Application Evaluation and Selection
• Selection Criteria
• Unfunded Applicant Appeals Process
• HTF Program Requirements
• 2005 HTF Grant Recipients
• 2006 HTF Grant Recipients
• 2007 HTF Grant Recipients
• HTF Grant application for 2008

Program Information

The Heritage Trust Fund (HTF) was created in 1990 to provide assistance for the preservation of historic properties in Kansas. It represents a recognition of the efforts invested by individuals and organizations across the state to preserve these reminders of our shared history. The Heritage Trust Fund has proven to be a very positive program. To date, nearly ten million dollars have been awarded to projects found in communities across the state. Through the program, the Kansas State Historical Society has been given the opportunity to help communities realize their preservation goals and increase interest in their historic resources. This publication is meant to introduce you to the program and its guidelines.

Heritage Trust Fund Program Options

All Heritage Trust Fund projects require a detailed project description before they can be approved for bidding. The use of the project description ensures that the work meets current preservation standards, assists bidders in establishing their costs, and sets the standards by which the completed work will be assessed. All work financed by the Heritage Trust Fund must comply with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation.

The Scope of Work Form submitted with the application will be used to define the activities funded by the grant if awarded. The Kansas Historic Preservation Office (KHPO) may determine the scope of work needs further development before bids are solicited. Specifications would then be developed, based upon the activities described on the Scope of Work Form. Drawings or sketches may be required to show planned alterations. It is the grant recipient's responsibility to work with the KHPO to create and develop the final approved Scope of Work Form and to ensure that the contractor follows the approach it describes.

Heritage Trust Fund projects also may include costs for a consultant, such as an architect or engineer. Consultants will develop full plans and specifications based upon the Scope of Work Form. The plans and specifications may require revision before they are approved by the KHPO. The consultant also will provide technical assistance and construction administration throughout the course of the project. Grant recipients often prefer to have these responsibilities assumed by a professional. The role of consultants increases in value for more complex projects.

Applicant may elect to include consultants in any project. Consultants, however, are required for any project that needs a thorough investigation of existing conditions and problems or detailed designs for proper execution. Examples of such work would include structural repairs or the restoration of missing features. Projects that would not require consultants would include roof projects that do not involve major repair to the supporting structure or standard repointing of masonry walls. If in doubt, applicants should consult with HTF staff to determine if a consultant would be required for funding.

Applicants also may submit proposals for planning grants that are for consultant services alone without any proposed construction activities. Planning grants are often requested for those projects that require extensive investigation for the development of a preservation approach.

Application Procedure

Please read both the Heritage Trust Fund Program Information and the application instructions before writing an application. If you have any questions about applying, please call the Kansas Historic Preservation Office (KHPO) at (785) 272-8681, ext. 240, cultural_resources@kshs.org

Applicants are encouraged to attend a grant application workshop. The times and locations of the workshops are enclosed with the HTF application. Workshops are scheduled around the state to provide an introduction to the HTF program and grant application. The applicant may submit a preliminary draft of the application to the KHPO for review by HTF staff. This is not required, but is strongly recommended. Please use a photocopy of the application in your preparation of the preliminary draft. The draft must be postmarked by the specified date or delivered to the office in person on that day. Staff will then review the draft and offer suggestions concerning the means by which it may be strengthened. The final applications must then be submitted to the KHPO by the final deadline.

Deadlines

Applications must be postmarked on or before the due date. If the application is hand-delivered, it must be received no later than 4:00 p.m. on the day of the deadline. Electronic submissions such as facsimile transmissions or electronic mail will not be accepted.

Final Heritage Trust Fund (HTF) grant applications must

• be typed on forms obtained from the KHPO or photocopies of the forms and

• include three stapled copies of the completed application, including attachments, in addition to the original application form (photocopies will be accepted).

Applications are ineligible if they

• do not have the required documentation

• do not use the official grant application forms or photocopies of the forms

• are incomplete

• miss the deadline

Submit applications to: Kansas State Historical Society, Historic Preservation Office, 6425 SW 6th Street, Topeka, Kansas 66615-1099. Envelopes should be marked "Heritage Trust Fund Application" to ensure prompt delivery to the HTF staff.

General Funding Conditions

Grant recipients other than for-profit corporations will provide at least 20% of all allowable project costs. Grants involving properties owned by for-profit corporations will be matched dollar-for-dollar for all eligible project costs. All match claimed must be in the form of cash. Donated and indirect costs will not be accepted as a matching share. The cash match must be available and reserved for the project no later than the application deadline.

Ordinarily no HTF grant will exceed $90,000 or fall below $5,000. Exceptions to these limits may be granted if there are strong extenuating circumstances. Requests for amounts outside of the limits will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Kansas Historic Sites Board of Review and the Executive Director of the Kansas State Historical Society.

Eligible Properties

Properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places or the Register of Historic Kansas Places, but not owned by the state or federal governments, are eligible to receive HTF grants.

There are often unlisted non-historic properties located within registered historic districts. A property that is part of a National or State Register district, therefore, must be identified as a "contributing property" within the district. If you are uncertain about whether your property is a contributing property, you may contact the KHPO to confirm the registration status of your property.

Properties owned by for-profit corporations are only eligible for grant funds if the applicant can prove that the property's continued existence is threatened by forces outside the control of the corporation or its preservation is economically unfeasible without HTF assistance. Funds will not be provided simply to make the preservation of a property more profitable for the corporate applicant.

Eligible Activities

All work that is undertaken must conform to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation (36 CFR Part 1207). These are referred to as the Secretary of the Interior's Standards throughout the text. The Standards are a set of guidelines used to determine whether an activity will protect the historic quality of a structure.

The following types of preservation activities are eligible for funding through the grants program:

1. Rehabilitation: the act of making a property usable through repair, alterations, or additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values. Rehabilitation can include the upgrading of mechanical systems and work which will bring the property into conformity with building codes and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

2. Restoration: the act or process of accurately depicting the form, features, and character of a property as it appeared at a particular period of time. This may be accomplished by removing features from other periods of history or by reconstructing missing features from the chosen historic period. For all restoration projects, sufficient documentation must be provided to establish the form and detail of the property or features that existed at the time to which it is being restored.

3. Preservation: includes those activities necessary to sustain the existing form, integrity, and materials of an historic property. Preservation activities are intended to maintain and repair historic materials and features as they now exist, rather than replace them with new materials or extensive new construction. Preservation activities frequently are directed toward halting deterioration of a site or in maintaining existing materials. Examples of preservation include foundation repair or any work to prevent penetration by the elements, such as roof repair.

4. Non-construction activities, such as the preparation of reports or plans, that will be employed for the rehabilitation, restoration, or preservation of historic properties are eligible under the Heritage Trust Fund. These would include, the preparation of architectural plans and contract documents; maintenance plans; historic structures reports; historic landscape reports; archeological reports; and architectural or engineering reports.

Ineligible Activities

The following list of activities and expenses are ineligible for funding under this program. The list does not include all ineligible activities, but indicated the types of activities and expenses that will not be considered for funding.

1. Acquisition of real or personal property.

2. Additions.

3. Major reconstructions. For example, reconstruction of a building from photographs with new materials on an existing foundation.

4. Archeological research projects, including archeological site excavations, unless directly related to the physical preservation of a site.

5. Grant administration expenses or other indirect costs.

6. Equipment purchases, except items that are directly related to the building operation and specifically approved by the KSHS.

7. Costs incurred before the project starting date or after the project completion date.

8. Costs over the approved project budget.

9. Costs for work not included in the scope of work established in the project agreement.

10. Work which does not comply with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards.

11. Damage judgments arising from construction or equipping of a facility, whether determined by judicial process, arbitration, negotiation, or otherwise.

12. Fund raising, including grant application preparation.

13. Lobbying.

14. Costs for general maintenance or utilities.

15. Relocation of structures, buildings, or objects normally would not receive funding under this program. Relocation will be funded only if all of the following criteria are met:

    1. Relocation is necessary to preserve the historic resource; and

    2. The relocation re-establishes the property's historic orientation, the immediate setting, and the general environment; and

    3. The Kansas Historic Sites Board of Review determine that the property, as relocated, will continue to meet criteria for the National Register of Historic Places and/or the Register of Historic Kansas Places.

Application Evaluation and Selection

To be considered for evaluation, applications must be complete and meet the qualifying criteria identified below. Applications that meet the qualifying criteria are forwarded to an evaluation committee composed of members of the Kansas Historic Sites Board of Review (KHSBR). The reviewers then evaluate the eligible applications using the competitive criteria identified below. The reviewers rank all qualified applications in priority order and recommends a level of funding (full or partial) for each project. This ranking and recommendation is considered by the KHSBR at a regular quarterly meeting. If approved, the reviewers' recommendations are forwarded to the Executive Director of the Kansas State Historical Society. The director then employs the recommendations to make the final selection of funded projects.

The statute that created the Heritage Trust Fund requires that at least 50% of the amount awarded annually in grants be used for the preservation of eligible properties owned by county and local governments, county and local historical societies and by private nonprofit organizations. The law further provides for consideration of geographic distribution in the evaluation of proposed grant projects. Applications are judged on merit according to the evaluation criteria listed on the following pages. An application must meet all of the Qualifying Criteria to be eligible for the program. Any application which fails to do so will be returned.

Selection Criteria

1. The property is independently listed in the National Register of Historic Places or Register of Historic Kansas Places, or is a contributing property in a National or State Register listed district.

2. If the property is owned by a for-profit corporation, it must meet the requirements of the law, that "the property's continued existence is threatened or its rehabilitation is not economically feasible without grant assistance." This threat must come from forces not within the control of the corporation, such as severe structural deterioration or governmental action.

3. The grant applicant owns the property.

4. The property is not owned by the State of Kansas or the federal government.

5. The grant application is complete and submitted before the deadline.

6. The proposed activities conform to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards.

Competitive Criteria

1. Historical significance of the property.

2. Condition of the property and urgency of the preservation work proposed.

3. The applicant's demonstrated need for funds.

4. Administrative ability, including personnel, facilities, and organizational structure adequate to complete the project.

5. Well-conceived project description. To achieve a higher rank, the project description should include clearly stated project activities, a reasonable construction schedule and cost estimate.

6. Community and state benefit from the project and the historic property.

7. Broad-based community support for the project, as demonstrated by letters of support attached to the grant application.

Unfunded Applicant Appeals Process

An unfunded applicant may appeal the decision, if the applicant believes that (1) the decision violated state law or administrative rules; (2) the decision was influenced by a conflict of interest; or (3) a change in the review and certification process was detrimental to the applicant. All appeals must be sent in writing to the State Historic Preservation Officer, Kansas State Historical Society, 6425 SW 6th Street, Topeka, Kansas 66615-1099 within ten working days of the announcement of the grant awards. The written appeal must describe the facts of the case, including an argument in favor of the appeal and the desired remedy. The State Historic Preservation Officer will make a written response to the petitioning party within 21 wording days of receipt of a properly submitted appeal.

Heritage Trust Fund Program Requirements

Applicants should be aware of the following general terms and conditions contained in the standard HTF grant. Copies of the Heritage Trust Fund Grant Recipients Manual, which provides more comprehensive details concerning the requirements and procedures of the Heritage Trust Fund, are available on request.

All grant recipients must sign a Project Agreement which defines the scope of work, schedule, reimbursement criteria, and other conditions of the award of the grant. The scope of work, schedule and budget are drawn from the information presented in the grant application. No project work may begin until this project agreement is signed and the administrator has attended a grant orientation.

All HTF grant recipients must inform KSHS of any significant problems, delays, or adverse conditions which might alter the scope of work or schedule of the project.

Grant recipients may claim reimbursement for each stated line item in the budget when the work is completed. Until that time, the grant recipient is responsible for payment of all costs as they become due and payable. KSHS will reimburse its portion of each billing, but will retain ten per cent of its share until the completion of the project. This should be taken into consideration when calculating the cash flow for the project.

The procurement of professional and construction services must be carried out in a manner consistent with the HTF policies described in the project agreement.

Funded projects must have the "Scope of Work Form" or plans and specifications approved by the KSHS prior to bidding. All project descriptions, plans, and specifications are subject to review by HTF staff to ensure that the proposed work conforms to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation.

All grant recipients must agree to maintain the grant-funded work for five years after the date of project completion. Additional work to the property also must be approved by the KSHS during the five years to ensure that it does not detract from the historic integrity of the property.

If ownership of the property is not maintained by the grant recipient (or a designated heir, in the case of the grant recipient's death) for one full year after the project is completed, the HTF grant funds must be repaid in full. For properties held between one and five years after the project is completed, the recapture amount is reduced by twenty per cent per year.

Grant recipients who receive more than twenty thousand dollars in HTF funds must verify ownership through a title search prior to signing a grant agreement. Proof of current title insurance may be accepted in lieu of a title search. Up to one hundred dollars of the cost of such a search may be claimed as a reimbursable expense within the conditions of the grant agreement. Buildings owned by local governments that are used for carrying out government business, such as county courthouses and city halls, are exempt.

The Kansas State Historical Society does not discriminate on the basis of race creed, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability in admission to, access to, or operations of its programs, services or activities.