Dunkirk misses finalist list

Eight months later, Dunkirk is disappointed again.
Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs announced finalists for the Stellar Communities designation this morning. Dunkirk was not on the list.
“I was more shocked than anything,” said Dan Watson, the city’s former mayor and Stellar liaison. “I don’t know how we went from having a really good shot last year at winning the thing to not even being a finalist this year.
“I’m kind of disheartened with the whole process. … I just don’t know what happened. To not even be a finalist this year just blows me away. I don’t know what else Dunkirk could have done.”
Dunkirk was a finalist in Division II — for municipalities with a population of 6,000 or fewer — last year, finishing as the runner-up to North Liberty in August. This year marked the fourth in a row that the city had applied for the designation, which includes grant funding and tax credits from a variety of state agencies.
Finalists in Division II this year were Union City, Corydon and Culver while Rushville, Shelbyville and Warsaw got the nod in Division I.
Dunkirk’s application this year for the Stellar program was much the same as last year, focusing on plans to build a senior housing facility and move the library and glass museum to the downtown area.
The senior housing project represented the largest funding request in the application. Last year that amounted to $5.18 million in tax credits from Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority for Crown Crossing Senior Housing Development.
Dunkirk and Buckeye Community Hope Foundation of Columbus, Ohio, have been partnering to pursue the housing development for several years. It would include 28 housing units, a courtyard, kitchen, social hall, library, laundry room, computer room and administrative office space on the West Side of Main Street between Center Street and the railroad tracks.
The Stellar application also requested $1.84 million in funding from OCRA to renovate the Stewart Brothers Building. It would become the new home of the library and glass museum.
The other major piece of the project was $2.06 million in funding from Indiana Department of Transportation for Safe Routes to School and street lighting.
The city had also started the process of creating a tax increment financing (TIF) district, the lack of which had been one of the criticisms of last year’s Stellar application.
“It’s just a huge disappointment for Dunkirk,” said Jay County director of community development Ami Huffman. “They’ve worked so hard and invested so much and come so far and were encouraged to come back in this year.”
She added that the city didn’t believe it was a lock to win, “but we thought we could at least make finalist again to go that extra mile to prove ourselves this year.”
Previous Stellar winners in addition to North Liberty were Crawfordsville in 2015, Huntingburg and Wabash in 2014, Bedford and Richmond in 2013, Princeton and Delphi in 2012 and Greencastle and North Vernon in 2011.
Portland was a finalist in 2011.