Work on the Vincennes Levee along the grounds of the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park is being put on hold until next year.
Levee Superintendent Hunter Pinnell told members of the Vincennes Redevelopment Commission Thursday that some of the trees scheduled to be removed are home to the Indiana Brown bats. Pinnell says the bats are on the state’s endangered species list. The animals use the trees for nesting during the warmer months of the year. The National Parks Service will not allow the City to proceed with the levee work until after October 1st.
Pinnell told the R-D-C members that the delay will not have an impact on the city’s efforts to get the levee re-certified.
Pinnell says most of the work yet to be done includes installation of a new irrigation system. He added that some of the trees they planned to remove will be replaced. Work on the project is expected to resume next spring.
INVIN FUNDING
The Vincennes Redevelopment Commission approved over 85 thousand dollars to assist the group INVIN with construction of a new parking lot.
A portion of the money will be used for the demolition of two buildings across from the New Moon Theatre. INVIN Executive Director Ellen Harper says the group is currently marketing the New Moon which has sat vacant for several years. She says they’ve received some inquiries about turning the former theatre into a restaurant and micro-brewery. The parking lot would serve whatever business locates in the former movie theatre.
Harper says there would be 25 parking spaces with two of those designated as handicapped accessable. Harper says they haven’t secured all the money needed for the work yet. But they have spoken with one of the local banks to open a line of credit to begin the work.
Harper says the next step is to go before the Vincennes Historic Review Board to request permission to tear down the vacant buildings.
DEMOLISHED BUILDINGS
The Vincennes Redevelopment Commission will be able to recover part of the cost tearing down an unsafe building downtown.
The R-D-C provided nearly 206-thousand dollars for the demolition of the former Kathy’s Kreations at 4th and Main Streets. City Inspector Phil Cooper had deemed the building unsafe and recommended it be torn down. The city of Vincennes also contributed 7-thousand dollars from its unsafe building fund.
Wayne Thomann with Kemper C-P-A says both the city and one of the local banks had tax leans placed on the property.
As a result, Thomann says the city received a default allocation of 13-thousand, 780-dollars. R-D-C members voted to reimburse the city for their share of the work and the remaining 6-thousand dollars will go back into the R-D-C’s account.