ZELIENOPLE — The Zelienople Historical Society moved one step closer to achieving its goal of preserving local buildings.

The group presented a check to borough council Monday evening for $12,500 as matching funds for the Keystone state grant.

“It’s one step, but it’s an important one,” said Tom Nesbitt, a board member for the history group. “Without this, the project wouldn’t have gone forward.”

The society had to come up with matching funds since the borough did not plan for the grant in its 2016 budget.

“Some groups ask for money and don’t share in it,” borough manager Don Pepe said. “They (historical society) did. It doesn’t happen very often.”

Historical society members said money for the grant was raised through various fundraisers and contributions, as well as sales from Nesbitt’s book, “Images of America: Zelienople,” published in 2015.

They also said this was the largest fundraising endeavor toward preservation the group has undertaken.

The society aims to create a plan to preserve buildings deemed to have historical importance.

A study was conducted last year to measure local buildings’ history. About 600 houses and buildings were surveyed, 300 of those being at least 100 years old, mostly on Main Street. Others are on New Castle Street.

Photographs of buildings from Green Lane to Division Street and from Grandview Avenue to the cemetery were taken. New housing is not included in the study.

However, a plan has not been finalized by the historical society.

“We don’t know what that means,” Pepe said of the plan. “These buildings are in private hands. We don’t want to hurt the individual property owners. We have a ton of old buildings.”

Despite the financial accomplishment, society members said they are “at a standstill.” The grant needs to be finalized by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission before action can be taken.

Group members said they expect a plan to be formed by 2018.

“We’re excited we’ve gotten to this point,” historical society member Gwen Lutz said.

According to its website, the Keystone Historic Preservation Project Grant program is available to nonprofit organizations and local governments for the planning and development for publicly accessible historic resources listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.