The Bowling Green Historic Preservation Commission discussed next steps for its strategic plan, funding options and community outreach following a recent placemaking award.

Commissioners reviewed their three-year strategic plan and considered applying for a Certified Local Government (CLG) grant to finance a professional consultant to update and implement the plan. The chair said a consultant could help the commission “revise and add some things into this and create something that we can work from for the next meeting,” and commissioners agreed the grant timeline is typically on a fall cycle.

Commissioners proposed a range of near-term priorities: refining the strategic plan to mark completed items, pursuing local designations of additional BoomTown areas in phases, and using student or grant-funded projects to build an inventory and historical record of neighborhoods. The group discussed whether to pursue an endowed fund or seek partnerships with the Bowling Green Foundation to provide recurring preservation funding; Heather said that the finance department would need to advise on mechanisms for routing endowed funds to city or nonprofit accounts.

The commission also noted several ongoing outreach activities: placing historic plaques and signs (funding for a plaques program is pending city council budget approval), the weekly building-of-the-month feature and walking tours, and a forthcoming TV segment featuring the sign-committee’s Heritage Ohio award. “We are delighted that the theater is back in action,” a commissioner said, thanking the sign committee for its work on the award-winning signage project.

In public comment, Jan Knapp, a resident of 504 South Main Street, urged the commission to hire a facilitator for a focused strategic-plan discussion and suggested inviting a private preservation developer to present a half- or full-day seminar on financing and project sequencing. Jan said a workshop using a hypothetical or local project would “help all of us to better understand what we really are accomplishing and what time frames.”

Dale Arnold, a Ridge Street resident, reported a carved stone or survey marker displaced during nearby highway-area construction and asked whether the commission or the city would record or preserve it; commissioners suggested coordinating with the city engineer to determine custody and the artifact’s significance.

Commissioners asked staff to circulate grant guidance and to bring a revised strategic-plan draft back for discussion. At the meeting staff confirmed that the plaques item is awaiting city council budget action and that the CLG grant cycle usually opens in the fall; no formal funding request was adopted at the meeting.