75-2726. Acquisition of historic property for purposes of historic preservation. (a) The state of Kansas shall not acquire or make a commitment to acquire by gift, lease, purchase or other means any historic property for purposes of historic preservation of such property unless such property is listed on the national register of historic places and, in any case, until an application for acquisition of historic property is filed with the secretary of the state historical society and the state historic sites board of review has reviewed such application and submitted a report and findings in regard to the acquisition of such property to the governor and the legislature in accordance with this section.

(b) An application for acquisition of historic property shall be filed with the secretary of the state historical society on forms prepared by the secretary of the state historical society and shall contain such information concerning such historic property as the secretary of the state historical society may require. Each such application for acquisition of any historic property shall be signed by at least 1,000 of the qualified electors of this state and at least 25% of the number of the electors signing the application shall be also qualified electors of the county where the historic property is located.

(c) Upon the receipt of such application, the secretary of the state historical society shall notify the chairperson of the state historic sites board of review that an application has been received. The state historic sites board of review shall meet to conduct fact-finding hearings and otherwise investigate the application for acquisition of historic property. The state historic sites board of review shall make a report and findings on the factors established in subsection (e). If, prior to the time the state historic sites board of review makes a report and findings, changes have occurred to the property that have destroyed, removed, reduced or otherwise irreparably altered those features, characteristics, elements, materials or values that made the property historically important, the board may direct a cessation of the investigation and research efforts on that property and shall notify the individual or group submitting the petition, the governor and the legislature of the reasons for cessation of the investigation.

(d) If an application for acquisition of historic property previously proposed for acquisition and previously investigated by the state historic sites board of review is filed with the secretary of the state historical society, the state historic sites board of review may in its discretion decide whether or not to conduct a new investigation of the historic property.

(e) Upon review of an application for acquisition of historic property, the state historic sites board of review shall make findings on the following factors:

(1) Whether the historic property has sufficient historical significance, educational value and general public interest to justify acquisition;

(2) what the costs of acquisition, restoration, development, operation and maintenance of the historic property will be for at least five fiscal years subsequent to the proposed date of acquisition;

(3) whether the historic property will generate financial revenues in the future and an estimate of the amount of such revenues for at least five fiscal years subsequent to the proposed date of acquisition of the historic property;

(4) whether there exists sufficient local financial assistance to support a partnership of the state, local governments and private sources for the development and ongoing maintenance and operation of the historic property and the degree of assurance that such local financial assistance is committed for these purposes;

(5) whether the historic property is duplicative of other historic property operated by the state historical society;

(6) whether the historic property retains an original appearance, setting and materials which are adequate to interpret its significance;

(7) whether the historic property is accessible or can be made accessible to visitors by customary means of transportation and the costs involved in making the historic property accessible;

(8) whether the historic property has access to utilities and other services required for its preservation and operation and the costs involved in obtaining such access;

(9) whether the historic property illustrates, interprets or is identified with an important aspect of Kansas history or prehistory; and

(10) such other factors or information as the state historic sites board of review deems relevant.

(f) Upon the completion of its investigation of the application for acquisition of historic property, the state historic sites board of review shall report its findings to the governor and to the legislature. Such report shall be made not later than one year subsequent to the receipt by the secretary of the state historical society of the application for acquisition of historic property.

(g) As used in this section, the terms "historic preservation" and "historic property" shall have the meanings ascribed to such terms in K.S.A. 75-2716 and amendments thereto.

History: L. 1982, ch. 330, § 1; L. 1987, ch. 333, § 1; L. 1988, ch. 338, § 1; L. 1991, ch. 258, § 1; July 1.