II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3210 

To establish the Centennial Historic District in the Commonwealth of 

Pennsylvania. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 26, 2008 

Mr. CASEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To establish the Centennial Historic District in the 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Centennial District Au5 thorization Act of 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the Centennial District in the Common9 wealth of Pennsylvania was the site of an interVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:28 Jul 01, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3210.IS S3210

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1 national exhibition to celebrate the Centennial of the 

2 United States in 1876; 

3 (2) held only 11 years after the end of the Civil 

4 War, the Centennial Exhibition was both a national 

5 celebration of unity and a recognition by the world 

6 community that the United States was emerging as 

7 the leading country in the world; 

8 (3) the Centennial Exhibition displayed 60,000 

9 exhibits from more than 28 countries around the 

10 world in 240 buildings and hosted nearly 10,000,000 

11 visitors, which is estimated to be nearly 25 percent 

12 of the population of the United States at the time 

13 of the Exhibition; 

14 (4) the Centennial Exhibition became the center 

15 of cultural, technological, economic, and geopolitical 

16 development in the United States by demonstrating 

17 groundbreaking innovations, including root beer, the 

18 telephone, kindergarten, the typewriter, the phono19 graph, and the monorail; 

20 (5) there are more than 100 United States 

21 companies that displayed at the Centennial Exhi22 bition that are still in business today, including 

23 Bausch and Lomb, John Deere, Campbell’s, Heinz, 

24 and Wyeth; 


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1 (6) the Centennial District is located in Fair2 mount Park, which is listed on the National Register 

3 of Historic Places; 

4 (7) Memorial Hall, a centerpiece of the Centen5 nial celebration is— 

6 (A) listed on the National Register of His7 toric Places; and 

8 (B) being renovated to join other cultural 

9 institutions as an anchor for the Centennial 

10 District; and 

11 (8) the Centennial District would commemorate 

12 the historic significance of the Centennial celebration 

13 in the history of the United States. 

14 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 

15 (1) to preserve and interpret for the educational 

16 and inspirational benefit of the public the contribu17 tion to the heritage of the United States of certain 

18 historic and cultural land in the Centennial Historic 

19 District, with an emphasis on harnessing the unique 

20 urban environment of the District for the edu21 cational and recreational values offered by the Dis22 trict; and 

23 (2) to enhance economic and cultural redevelop24 ment in the District by preserving the history of the 

25 United States Centennial Celebration. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) CITY.—The term ‘‘City’’ means the City of 

4 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

5 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

6 means the Fairmount Park Commission. 

7 (3) DISTRICT.—The term ‘‘District’’ means the 

8 Centennial Historic District established by section 

9 4(a). 

10 (4) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The term ‘‘manage11 ment plan’’ means the plan prepared under section 

12 5(b). 

13 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 

14 means— 

15 (A) the Secretary of the Interior; or 

16 (B) the head of any Federal agency to 

17 which funds are appropriated to carry out this 

18 Act. 

19 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF CENTENNIAL HISTORIC DIS20 TRICT. 

21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

22 City the Centennial Historic District. 

23 (b) BOUNDARIES.—The District shall be comprised 

24 of land in the City under the jurisdiction of the Commis25 sion, the boundaries of which are depicted on map ‘‘A’’ 


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1 of the maps entitled ‘‘Fairmount Park’s Proposed Centen2 nial Authorization Boundary’’ and dated December 2007. 

3 SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATION OF CENTENNIAL HISTORIC DIS4 TRICT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make grants 

6 to, and enter into cooperative agreements with, any State 

7 or local government agencies, any nonprofit entities des8 ignated by the Secretary to operate the District, and any 

9 leaseholders for— 

10 (1) the preparation of the management plan; 

11 and 

12 (2) the implementation of projects approved by 

13 the Secretary under the management plan. 

14 (b) MANAGEMENT PLAN.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall prepare 

16 a plan for the development of historic, architectural, 

17 natural, cultural, recreational, and interpretive re18 sources within the District. 

19 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The management plan 

20 shall include— 

21 (A) an evaluation of— 

22 (i) the condition of historic and archi23 tectural resources in the District; and 

24 (ii) the environmental conditions in 

25 the District; and 


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1 (B) recommendations for— 

2 (i) rehabilitating, reconstructing, and 

3 adaptively reusing the historic and archi4 tectural resources evaluated under sub5 paragraph (A)(i); 

6 (ii) preserving viewsheds, focal points, 

7 and streetscapes in the District; 

8 (iii) establishing gateways to the Dis9 trict; 

10 (iv) establishing and maintaining 

11 parks and public spaces in the District; 

12 (v) developing public parking areas in 

13 the District; 

14 (vi) improving pedestrian and vehic15 ular circulation in the District; and 

16 (vii) improving security in the Dis17 trict. 

18 (c) RESTORATION, MAINTENANCE, AND INTERPRE19 TATION.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter 

21 into cooperative agreements with the City, any 

22 agents of the City, and designated partners within 

23 the District under which the Secretary may mark, 

24 interpret, improve, restore, and provide technical as25 sistance with respect to the preservation and interVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:28 Jul 01, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3210.IS S3210

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1 pretation of any property of historical or cultural 

2 significance in the District, as identified in the man3 agement plan. 

4 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—A cooperative agreement 

5 entered into under paragraph (1) shall contain pro6 visions requiring that— 

7 (A) the Secretary have the right of access 

8 at reasonable times to public portions of the 

9 property for interpretive and other purposes; 

10 and 

11 (B) no changes or alterations be made to 

12 the property unless the changes or alterations 

13 are approved by all parties to the cooperative 

14 agreement. 

15 (d) CAPITAL PROJECTS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 

17 financial assistance to projects for capital improve18 ments in the District in accordance with this sub19 section. 

20 (2) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for financial 

21 assistance under paragraph (1), an entity shall sub22 mit to the Secretary an application that includes a 

23 description of the manner in which the proposed 

24 project would further the purposes of the District. 


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1 (3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In making amounts 

2 available under this subsection, the Secretary shall— 

3 (A) consider which proposed projects pro4 vide the greatest leverage of Federal funds; and 

5 (B) give priority consideration to projects 

6 relating to— 

7 (i) providing gateways to, and signage 

8 for, the District; 

9 (ii) improving historical monuments in 

10 the District; 

11 (iii) maintaining public parks and 

12 spaces in the District; 

13 (iv) establishing a trail in the District; 

14 (v) maintaining and improving the 

15 lake in the District; 

16 (vi) providing streetscape and lighting 

17 for the Girard Gateway; 

18 (vii) improving pedestrian and vehic19 ular traffic circulation and parking at the 

20 western end of the Centennial Exhibition 

21 grounds; and 

22 (viii) restoring Memorial Hall. 

23 (C) CONDITIONS.—Any amounts provided 

24 under this subsection shall be subject to an 

25 agreement between the Secretary and the reVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:28 Jul 01, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3210.IS S3210

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1 cipient of the financial assistance providing that 

2 if the project assisted is converted or disposed 

3 of for purposes contrary to the purposes of this 

4 Act, as determined by the Secretary, the United 

5 States shall be entitled to compensation from 

6 the recipient of the financial assistance in an 

7 amount that is equal to the greater of— 

8 (i) the amount of any funds made 

9 available to the project under this Act; or 

10 (ii) the amount of the increased value 

11 of the project attributable to the funds 

12 made available to the project under this 

13 Act, as determined at the time of the con14 version or disposal. 

15 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro17 priated to the Secretary— 

18 (1) $39,500,000 for capital projects under sec19 tion 5(d); and 

20 (2) $5,500,000 for planning and technical as21 sistance. 

22 (b) COST-SHARING REQUIREMENTS.—Amounts 

23 made available for projects under subsection (a)(1) shall 

24 not exceed 80 percent of the total cost of the project pro25 vided financial assistance. 


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1 (c) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—The authority to 

2 expend amounts made available under this Act shall expire 

3 5 years after the date on which the amounts are appro4 priated. 

Æ 


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