Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Preservation Buffalo Niagara is looking to save some of Buffalo's churches by giving them a landmark status.
The nonprofit has submitted an application to the City of Buffalo for each one of the 10 churches they're hoping to save.
Although there are are dozens of churches closing all across Western New York, executive director of Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Bernice Radle, says Buffalo is one the only few municipalities that has a specific landmark law.
"The local landmarking law basically says that it protects primarily the exterior of the building. So it's a way to keep our church intact and protected. If a developer or somebody wants to buy it, that's totally great," Radle said in an interview with WBEN. "If they want to do exterior modifications, let's say removing the stained glass windows or changing like a major issue in the façade, what happens is, as a local landmark, it has to go before the preservation board and be reviewed and worked through that process via the preservation board."
Radle says giving these churches a landmark status will not only save the city millions of dollars in demolition fees, but it would be preserving local history.
"If these churches become vacant, they become problems. Our municipal leaders have an opportunity to make sure that these are locally landmark, make sure they get determined eligible for the national register, so they can be have tax credits if they get redeveloped, Radle stated. "You want to make them redevelopment friendly. Do you want a million dollar liability on the books, or do you want, you know, a tax paying entity on the books? That's really the question."
