The Indiana Uplands region, which includes Brown County, is getting $30 million to fund some projects identified in a regional development plan.
Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) grants were announced Dec. 14 by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and the Indiana Economic Development Foundation.
The 11-county Indiana Uplands region was one of 17 regions trying to get a portion of $500 million in READI grants.
The IEDC planned to award up to $50 million per region. However, regions must attract a minimum 4-to-1 match, including a 1-to-1 match from local public funding.
Brown County has two projects in the development plan created in September by Regional Opportunity Initiatives. The plan was put together after meetings of local steering committees over the summer. The county committees were asked to come up with a list of about five projects to contribute to the region’s grant application. Whether or not those projects would actually make it into the application was not guaranteed, as the 10 other counties in the region also were contributing ideas.
There are more than 60 regional and local projects in the 163-page plan. A total of $115,105,394 in READI grant funding was requested; $30 million was awarded, so not all projects will be able to be funded. It is not yet clear which projects in the plan will be funded or how they will be chosen.
Brown County Community Foundation CEO Maddison Miller said last week that the READI grant funding announcement was “exciting,” but many questions remain unanswered.
Indiana Economic Development Corporation will host a READI kickoff meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 11 when organizers hope they will learn projects will receive READI funding. Until then, the IEDC will work through a grant agreement with each region.
For the Brown County projects, $2.3 million was requested for two projects: the building of more facilities at Hard Truth Hills distillery, and seed money for the Brown County Land Bank program.
The Hard Truth Hills expansion project would cost $6.8 million, with $1.36 million coming from READI funding. The rest would come from private or nonprofit sources. It would include a two-bedroom tourist cabin, a 20,000-barrel rack house, a storage warehouse, and high-speed bottling equipment to meet the “demand of growing sales,” the plan states. It was estimated to create 20 new jobs and “attract tourists from all over the region and state,” as well as to help make Hard Truth spirits a national brand.
The land bank project had requested $943,000 of READI funding. Another $943,000 was to come from unspecified “local government” sources. The program aims to address “vacant/abandoned properties and turn those properties over to a developer to construct new homes.” The Brown County Redevelopment Commission so far has identified 60 parcels that could be entered into the program — none of them currently occupied homes. Parcels could be sold to a developer for $1 who promised to build a home in a little over a year, and then that home would be sold at a not-to-exceed maximum price. One of the aims of the program is to help low- and middle-income families afford homes in Brown County, where real estate prices have skyrocketed over the past few years.
The READI grant application process started in June, and it gained the support of the Brown County Schools Board of Trustees, the Nashville Town Council, the county redevelopment commission and the Brown County Commissioners. An informal steering committee met every week in July to discuss which local projects might be put into a regional plan.
A READI review committee then looked at and scored the regional plans based on “established guidelines and against other relevant data, including historical population trends,” a press release from Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office states.
The Indiana Uplands region will collaborate with the IEDC to prioritize projects and maximize investments, according to the press release from the governor’s office. The IEDC has reviewewd proposed projects, but it unclear how that relates to Brown County’s specific allocation.
According to the resolution approved by local boards this summer, READI grants are meant to accelerate “efforts to attract and retain talent by working together to create high quality, vibrant and dynamic places that stand out from a crowded field of options.”
Read the plan
Read the entire Indiana Uplands READI development plan online by clicking here.
