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Park spray pad among CDBG reuse plans

A spray pad for Washington Park is among the things city of Dunkirk planners have proposed for reuse of Community Block Development (CDBG) funding.

Dunkirk gets funding for various items from the federal CDBG program every year, but occasionally some gets unspent, because it’s not needed or the project falls through. If Dunkirk doesn’t reassign the money, the city loses it.

Nicole Clift, the city’s CDBG program coordinator, told the Common Council’s Economic Development Committee on Monday she has no intention of letting that happen. “We did some reprogramming to catch us up,” she said.

The Washington Park spray pad would go in the middle of the circle, where a large pine tree stands. Many decades ago, a fountain featuring a statue of King Neptune stood there. The statue is now on display at SUNY Fredonia — and the fountain’s base is still there, under the tree.

The plan is to remove the tree, unearth the base and reuse it for the spray pad. A new water line, which would also resupply a broken drinking fountain, would be run from Washington Avenue to the pad.

The pad itself would contain nozzles that spray water at the touch of a button. The pad would be shut off from dusk to dawn.

“We know a lot of dog walkers walk through there” and would appreciate the water, Clift said. She added that there is currently no access to “water fun” in that part of the city.

“It’s not a destination where people will be coming up with car loads of kids,” she said.

The Department of Public Works would do the job next spring.

As for King Neptune, “It’s never going back.” Clift said about half the people she talks to would like the statue back in Washington Park, but the other half prefer it remain on display indoors at SUNY Fredonia.

Other plans for CDBG money reuse include adding a walkway to Wright Park through an unused portion of Pine Street. More lighting would also get added to the park’s paths.

The Chautauqua Home Improvement and Rehabilitation Corp. would also get $70,000 to help acquire, rehabilitate, and sell a home in the city.

Finally, a sidewalk from the Senior Center to the nearby Farmers Market is proposed.

The Dunkirk Common Council must approve the plans for reuse of the CDBG money.

City of Cheyenne to hold public hearing on CDBG funds

CHEYENNE – The city of Cheyenne’s Housing and Community Development Office and the HCD Advisory Council will hold a public hearing from 3:30 to 4 p.m. Wednesday concerning grant funding for the 2024 HUD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in Cheyenne.

The meeting will be in person at the Cheyenne Municipal Building, 2101 O’Neil Ave., Room 104, or virtually via Zoom.

CDBG funding is designated for community development projects, particularly those that address housing, poverty and infrastructure issues.

Cheyenne’s HCD office administers the city’s CDBG program, and organizations can apply for CDBG funds.

The 2024 submitted proposals include:

Public (Human) Services Category:

Equal Justice Wyoming Foundation: $20,000 to provide legal services for low-income residents.
Needs, Inc.: $30,000 to provide food security for low-income residents.
Safehouse Services: $21,000 to provide utility assistance for the shelter.
Safehouse Services: $10,000 to provide emergency services for victims of domestic violence.
General Services Category:

COMEA House: $75,000 to provide an upgrade to the men’s dorm.
Habitat for Humanity: $65,000 to provide for home rehabilitation for low-income homeowners.
Habitat for Humanity: $100,000 to provide for the acquisition and possible rehabilitation of a blighted property.
Habitat for Humanity: $100,000 to provide for the acquisition of land.

The City of Cheyenne’s Housing and Community Development (HCD) Office and the HCD Advisory Council will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 1, from 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. concerning grant funding for the 2024 HUD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in Cheyenne.

The meeting will be in-person at the Cheyenne Municipal Building, 2101 O’Neil Ave., Room 104, or virtually via Zoom.

CDBG funding is designated for community development projects, particularly those that address housing, poverty, and infrastructure issues.

Cheyenne’s HCD office administers the city’s CDBG program, and organizations can apply for CDBG funds.

The 2024 submitted proposals include:

Public (Human) Services Category

Equal Justice Wyoming Foundation: $20,000 to provide legal services for low-income residents.
Needs, Inc.: $30,000 to provide food security for low-income residents.
Safehouse Services: $21,000 to provide utility assistance for the shelter.
Safehouse Services: $10,000 to provide emergency services for victims of domestic violence.


General Services Category

COMEA House: $75,000 to provide an upgrade to the men’s dorm.
Habitat for Humanity: $65,000 to provide for home rehabilitation for low-income homeowners.
Habitat for Humanity: $100,000 to provide for the acquisition and possible rehabilitation of a blighted property.
Habitat for Humanity: $100,000 to provide for the acquisition of land.

Communities Across Kansas Receive Nearly $3.2M CDBG Grant Funding

TOPEKA – Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland today announced 10 communities received almost $3.2 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding. Grant awards were made in three categories: Water and Sewer, Commercial Rehabilitation, and Housing.

The three programs, which provide crucial funding for community development projects in Kansas, received a total of $3,193,740.

“CDBG grants are tailored to assist in funding broader needs of communities across our great state,” Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland said. “These programs play a vital role in the health and well-being of cities and counties throughout Kansas.”

The Water and Sewer Program is designed to support communities by upgrading and expanding their water and sewer infrastructure. The following cities and counties have been awarded Water and Sewer grants for a total of $2,299,990:

Belle Plaine; $476,760; removing nitrates from potable water sources
Herndon; $152,583; repairing lagoons
Miami County; $305,126; building a lift station to pump sewage
Osage City; $470,801; rehabilitating sewer mains and manholes
Palco; $417,960; constructing a new water treatment plant
Wakefield; $476,760; constructing additional lagoons
The Commercial Rehabilitation program provides funding to assist private property owners in the rehabilitation of blighted structures in downtown commercial districts. The following cities have been awarded Commercial Rehabilitation grants for a total of $593,750:

Atchison; $250,000; repairing a historic property downtown
Independence; $250,000; rehabilitating a historic downtown building
Meriden; $93,750; rehabilitating a local bar and restaurant
Finally, the CDBG Housing program provides funding to support the rehabilitation of housing units and the demolition of blighted structures in communities across the state. One city received a Housing grant award this round:

Holyrood; $300,000; rehabilitating eight homes and demolishing three
For more information about CDBG grant programs, click here.

About the Kansas Department of Commerce

As the state’s lead economic development agency, the Kansas Department of Commerce strives to empower individuals, businesses and communities to achieve prosperity in Kansas. Commerce accomplishes its mission by developing relationships with corporations, site location consultants and stakeholders in Kansas, the nation and world. Our strong partnerships allow us to help create an environment for existing Kansas businesses to grow and foster an innovative, competitive landscape for new businesses. Through Commerce’s project successes, Kansas was awarded Area Development Magazine’s prestigious Gold Shovel award in 2021 and 2022, and was awarded the 2021 and 2022 Governor’s Cup by Site Selection Magazine.

Communities receive nearly $3.2 million CDBG grant funding

City of Biddeford Seeks Input on Use of Federal Funding

BIDDEFORD — The City of Biddeford is seeking input from community members on how to use its annual Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocation from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The City of Biddeford receives about $254,000 for city projects and $59,000 to support Biddeford social service agencies each year through the CDBG program. Every five years, the City revisits its CDBG Consolidated Plan, which outlines how these federal funds will be spent. The 2018 to 2023 Consolidated Plan funded public parks, sidewalk access for people with disabilities, street lighting, repairs to properties that offer affordable rents, and small business grants to help retain workers during COVID.

As the next five-year planning cycle begins, the City is seeking feedback from residents on how CDBG funds can be used to make the most impact in their neighborhoods. Ideas can be submitted online at https://our.biddefordmaine.org/en/projects/cdbg-consolidated-plan-1 . Community members who prefer to provide written feedback can submit their comments to the City of Biddeford Community Development Department, 205 Main St. Biddeford, ME.

“Public participation is one of the most crucial pieces to the development of the City’s Consolidated Plan.” said Jessica Wilson, CDBG Coordinator for the City of Biddeford. “We rely heavily on the feedback received from Biddeford residents and our community partners, so please share your thoughts by completing the survey or by getting in touch with me.”

CDBG funding can be used for a variety of purposes, such as buying property for public use, providing housing support, investing in public facilities, making public improvements such as street and sidewalk repairs, and supporting economic development activities. Seventy percent of this funding must be used to serve low- and moderate-income downtown residents.

Future phases of the project will allow participants the chance to provide more specific feedback on project proposals.

City Council Hears CDBG Updates, Discusses HOT Funds

As Monday evening’s City Council meeting began, Hibbs & Todd’s Senior Project Manager Colden Rich provided an administrative report to the Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, project. Rich explained that the grant the City was awarded in March of last year will be for paving of the streets and drainage improvements in the Northeast portion of town. He stated that in the application…
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St. Clair Shores City Council approves Planning Commission’s CDBG budget plan

ST. CLAIR SHORES — On April 17, the St. Clair Shores City Council approved the Community Development Block Grant budget plan from the Planning Commission in a vote of 4-2.

Councilmembers John Caron and Candice Rusie opposed it. Mayor Kip Walby was excused, and Mayor Pro Tem Chris Vitale conducted the meeting.

The CDBG budget was given $879,172 this year, according to the Planning Commission minutes. This is an $8,107 decrease from the previous year.

This program allows funding for community development. Some of the organizations and charities funded under the city’s grants include the St. Clair Shores Senior Center, Gilda’s Club and the Homeowner Rehabilitation Program.

Organizations can put in a request for an amount of money they want to receive, either by attending the public hearing in person or by submitting a written request, according to Liz Koto, the city planner for St. Clair Shores.

“You do not have to be present at the public hearing in order to be considered for funding,” Koto said. “We all recognize and understand that there could be extenuating circumstances that wouldn’t allow somebody to be able to be present at a public hearing.”

Two separate budgets were brought forward: one set up by Koto and one set up by the Planning Commission.

Koto said each organization requested a certain amount of money and the city would not be able to give them what they wanted because it exceeds what they are allowed to fund. First-time organizations are allocated $1,000 to get a feel for the rules and regulations for the next year, when they will be allocated more money.

Koto said she made a plan for the remainder of the organizations where all of them are knocked down by a percentage.

“For the remainder of the public service organizations that we have funded in the past, we then knock them down all by an equal percentage so that everyone gets sort of knocked down equally, and that is the budget I recommended to the Planning Commission,” Koto said.

The changes the Planning Commission made were to reduce the amount of funding for Care House and to give an extra $2,000 to the Hockey Enablement Fund.

The second recommendation was to reduce the amount Gilda’s Club received and give an additional $2,000 to the McWarm warming center.

Councilwoman Candice Rusie disagreed with the Planning Commission in reducing the amount Care House gets, stating that they need that money for the services they provide.

“I really don’t want to reduce the amount we give to the organization that does forensic interviews of molested children for St. Clair Shores … to give a sports association more,” Rusie said.

Rusie said that, every year, it is difficult choosing which organizations get the funding.

“That’s the hard thing every single year. This is really difficult,” Rusie said. “I mean, it’s not always difficult. It’s really good when we have exactly the amount to give that we have to meet all the requests (that) were made, and unfortunately, this year we can’t do that because we are not getting as much money as we usually get from the federal government.”

Councilman Dave Rubello said he felt the same way as Rusie in this respect.

“To make these types of choices…there’s (a) need for all of this stuff, that’s for sure, in (this) type of world,” Rubello said. “I mean, we have a lot of good in our world, too, but there (is) some awful stuff that goes on.”

Councilman John Caron said the formula Koto made was a good way to go.

“Just having a kind of a straightforward formula base for here’s how we’re going to do it is definitely a fair way to go,” Caron said.

Rusie made a motion to accept Koto’s recommendation as planned.

Councilman Ronald Frederick wanted to keep the Planning Commission’s plan, stating that Care House receives funding from other communities. This answer was provided by the representative for Care House when asked about other funding at the Planning Commission meeting the public hearing was held at.

“I always want to err on the side of helping our programs that help the kids here in the Shores,” Frederick said. “And I know Care House does do stuff with kids in the Shores. They also have $120,000 coming from other communities that they spread around.”

He also pointed out that the Hockey Enablement Fund doesn’t have any extra funding to turn to.

“I don’t think hockey has other funding,” Frederick said.

Frederick also said another reason he would like to see the Planning Commission’s plan come to fruition was to help McWarm, which he said was packed.

He originally moved to amend Rusie’s motion to restore the four recommendations in the Planning Commission’s plan, but St. Clair Shores City Attorney Robert Ihrie said that would completely supplant the other motion.

Rusie said she doesn’t want to create the appearance that money is being given to certain organizations because a member of the Planning Commission or City Council is involved in that organization.

“Just do it fair,” Rusie said. “Do it fair and proportionally. I think it removes any sort of appearance of impropriety, a sort of concern that anything is happening that shouldn’t be happening.”

The council did a roll call for Rusie’s original motion, to approve Koto’s plan, and the vote was 3-3, with Frederick, Councilman Peter Accica and Vitale opposed and Rusie, Rubello and Caron voting yes.

When they did a roll call vote for Frederick’s motion, the Planning Commission’s plan, the result was 4-2, with Rubello switching his vote to approve the plan and Rusie and Caron voting no.

HYDE-SMITH COMMITS TO MORE CDBG DISASTER RELIEF FUNDS FOR LONG-TERM MISS TORNADO RECOVERY

Miss. Senator Addresses Recovery Needs During Appropriations Panel Review of 2024 HUD Budget Request

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today committed to ensuring that Community Development Block Grant Disaster Relief (CDBG-DR) assistance is available to help tornado-damaged communities in Mississippi despite the anticipated depletion of existing FY2023 funding.

Hyde-Smith, the ranking member on the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee, used a subcommittee hearing on the FY2024 budget request for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to discuss the recovery needs for Rolling Fork, Amory, and other Mississippi communities that sustained major tornado damage in late March. HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge testified.

“Secretary Fudge, as I noted in my opening remarks, the recent storms and tornadoes in Mississippi have had a devastating impact on the town of Rolling Fork, Silver City, Egypt, Amory, across four counties, and many communities,” Hyde-Smith said. “We appreciate the President’s commitment to the people of Mississippi and the FEMA assistance that is already on the ground and making a difference. I also appreciate HUD rolling out the program waivers in its disaster response toolbox.”

“Although the data on unmet needs is still coming together, it’s never too early to think about the longer-term recovery needs of these communities and families,” said the Senator before turning to the allocation of CDBG-DR funds.

Fudge confirmed that $162 million remains of the $3.0 billion provided by Congress in FY2023 for CDBG-DR and that additional resources will be needed to meet the needs of disasters this year, including the Mississippi tornadoes.

“We do have $162 million remaining but we have yet to get all the information and data in from the storms in Florida and from other places. We know this $162 million is not going to go very far. We are generally in the ballpark of $3- to $4 billion for storms for ‘21 and ’22, and we don’t see ‘23 to be any different, especially as it has started out the way it has,” Fudge said. “Right now, those funds are allocated, but we will be coming to you for authorization as soon as we get data in from FEMA.”

Following the hearing, Hyde-Smith said, “I appreciate Secretary Fudge’s commitment to address the challenges facing Mississippians in recovering from the March tornadoes. There’s work to be done on the ground and there’s work to done here to make sure federal resources are available. I’m committed to getting that done.”

Regarding the overall FY2024 budget request for HUD, Hyde-Smith warned that the subcommittee will be hard pressed to fund all of the President’s $73.3 billion request, citing pending shortfalls in Federal Housing Administration and Ginnie Mae receipts.

“The Subcommittee faces the real prospect of a shortfall of at least $13 billion, just to maintain fiscal year 2023 program levels,” Hyde-Smith said.

“It is too early to know what our allocation will be, or even what a final Fiscal Year 2024 spending level will look like. However, it is clear we will need to make tough choices and that numerous proposals in the President’s budget request may not be accommodated. Instead, it will be important to try and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the programs we fund within the constraints we have to operate,” she concluded.

CDBG is accepting new requests; will hold a hearing on March 30

RIDGWAY-The Elk County Planning Department, on behalf of the Elk County Board of Commissioners, is now accepting proposals for the 2023 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. Funding is received through the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) and requires that at least 70% of the allocation be used to benefit Section 8 low/moderate Income (LMI) persons. If your organization is interested in submitting a request, please get in touch with Becki Taylor, CDBG Coordinator, private message me for more information

Elk County will hold a Public Hearing on March 30, at 3 p.m., at the Elk County Courthouse Annex Building, 300 Center Street, in Ridgway, in Conference Room #1. This meeting aims to discuss and receive comments on modifications to Elk County's CDB for FY 2020.

Dauphin County, Pa. Commissioner George Harttwick at the CDBG Coalition briefing. Photo by Alix Kashdan While celebrating a House appropriations bill markup that boosted the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to $3 billion, the CDBG Coalition pushed for measures that would sustain the program in the future at a Capitol Hill briefing April 28. The coalition, organized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and including NACo, reiterated a wish list of $3.3 billion in funding and an adjustment for inflation, which has been absent since the program's 1974 introduction. In its 41 years, the number of CDBG recipients has increased to more than 1,200 from its inaugural 594, but the initial funding level, $2.7 billion, has increased much less than the rate of inflation. It's a need-based, formula-driven funding program to states and local governments through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. "If you would adjust for inflation, the program would probably be funded at about $12 billion," said Gene Lowe, the U.S. Conference of Mayors' assistant executive director. "We simply have been nowhere near that." Dauphin County, Pa. Commissioner George Hartwick described the extent to which CDBG has helped his county. "We've been able to do some creative things with leveraging dollars," he said, pointing out one dollar in CDBG funding can typically be leveraged to raise $4.77 in private financing. "Being able to have flexible utilization of dollars to solve some extremely complex issues in redevelopment, infrastructure and road repairs we've combined it with our infrastructure bank to address major projects," Hartwick added. He emphasized what the 30 percent set-aside of CDBG funding for rural projects has meant. "In northern, rural parts of the county, if it wasn't for our ability to utilize CDBG dollars we may not have any public infrastructure at all," he said. "The idea of providing water and sewer lines and the ability for us to put in critical roadway has been crucial." Tim Ware, executive director of the George Washington Regional Commission in Fredericksburg, Va. echoed that sentiment. "At a time when local governments in rural communities are striving to overcome economic competition, aging infrastructure and scarce federal resources, it is vital that federal policymakers continue to maintain strong funding for the CDBG program," he said. Reps. Jim McGovern (D) and Joe Kennedy (D), both of Massachusetts, also voiced support for CDBG funding during the briefing.

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