City to approve CDBG funds
Washington council members today plan to approve this year’s allocations of $570,500 in Community Development Block Grant money.
Much of it will be directed toward improving the city’s blight, including rehabilitating residential homes, creating recreational green spaces and demolishing condemned buildings.
Robert Phillips, assistant community development director for Washington County Redevelopment Authority, said $570,500 has been the city’s share of CDBG funds the last couple years.
According to the agenda for Thursday’s city council meeting, $230,000 of the money will go to a bond payment, $175,000 to the rehabilitation of seven residential homes, $65,500 for improvements to City Hall, $50,000 to recreation improvements and $50,000 for demolition, which was the city’s match to $200,000 in Local Share Account funds the city recently received for that purpose.
The city plans to use the $50,000 in conjunction with the LSA funding to demolish buildings that “pose an immediate threat,” as well as buildings near vacant lots so they can “put two lots together and have a buildable lot,” said Mayor Scott Putnam.
Putnam said the city has about 25 buildings on its demolition list, and some of them have been on it over 10 years.
“We have a lot of residential buildings that need to come down – houses that we feel we’ve given multiple demo notices to,” he said.
Putnam said he’s not sure how many condemned buildings they will be able to take down with that money and that it will depend on the bidding process.
One vacant building that has posed a safety issue for the city is the one at 8-22 W. Chestnut St. and 93-95 N. Main St., around which the city put a fence last month because the roof is collapsing. Putnam said he’s not sure if the money will be used for that building because they’ve had trouble getting in touch with the owner, there’s a lien on the property and it will most likely be a very costly demolition.
Across Main Street from that corner, the city plans to demolish a building at 14 E. Chestnut to create a green space with the $50,000 of CDBG funds earmarked for recreational improvements. The project is expected to cost $120,000 in total.
“We refer to it as a recreation project because that will be the end result,” Phillips said. What we envision is a walkway, benches, grass, maybe even a mural or some sort of decorative wall – really just a quiet green space where someone could sit and eat their lunch.”
At the same time, the city hopes to preserve some other buildings.
Phillips said there are 40 owner-occupied houses on a waiting list to be rehabbed through the Redevelopment Authority’s home rehabilitation program. The $175,000 should pay for seven of those homes to be brought up to code, he said. The list is on a first-come, first-served basis, and property owners must fall under income qualifications for the program. The applications, Phillips said, probably won’t be processed until the fall.
Finally, with the $65,500 in remaining CDBG funds, the city wants to put an exterior chair lift at City Hall that will provide access to the basement for people with disabilities. Putnam said the city wants to rent out the basement, which has been vacant since 2016 when the drug task force moved out.
“We’ve looked at opportunities with potential tenants, but no one is ready to be named in that yet,” Putnam said.