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10:00:18 AM |
1st Public Hearing on
Community Development Block Grant Funds |
Commissioner Barnaby called the meeting to
order and Dennis Miller, Executive Director of the Maumee Valley
Planning Organization (MVPO) was present to lead the
discussion. Steve Brown, Regional Planning Director was also
present. Mr. Miller explained that this hearing is the first
hearing on all grants and that each individual grant that will
be applied for will require a second hearing. He explained that
the Block Grant Program allows funding under a variety of
activities. He first stated that the Formula grant allocation
for this year is estimated at approximately $155,000 for Fulton
County, with $30,000 of that being allocated to the City of
Wauseon. He presented the Board with a list of eligible
activities under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG):
ELIGIBLE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
BLOCK GRANT
ACTIVITIES
Activities eligible for
assistance with the Small Cities Community Block Grant Program
funds are only those listed below. (In all cases, unless
otherwise noted, “this title” or “Title I” refers to Title I of
the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended.)
1. The acquisition of real
property, (including air rights, water rights, and other
interests therein) which is: (a) blighted, deteriorated,
deteriorating, undeveloped, or inappropriately developed from
the standpoint of sound community development and growth; (b)
appropriate for rehabilitation or conservation activities; (c)
appropriate for the preservation or restoration of historic
sites, the beautification of urban land, the conservation of
open spaces, natural resources, and scenic areas, the provision
of recreational opportunities, or the guidance of urban
development; (d) to be used for the provision of public works,
facilities, and improvements eligible for assistance under Title
I; or (e) to be used for other public purposes;
2. the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, or
installation (including design features and improvements with
respect to such construction, reconstruction, or installation
that promote energy efficiency) of public works, facilities
(except for buildings for the general conduct of government),
and site or other improvements;
3. code enforcement in deteriorated or deteriorating areas in
which such enforcement, together with public or private
improvements or services to be provided, may be expected to
arrest the decline of the area;
4. clearance, demolition, removal, reconstruction and
rehabilitation (including rehabilitation which promotes energy
efficiency) of buildings and improvements (including interim
assistance, and financing public or private acquisition for
reconstruction or rehabilitation, and reconstruction or
rehabilitation, of privately- owned properties and including the
renovation of closed school buildings);
5.
special projects directed to the removal of material
and architectural barriers which restrict the mobility and
accessibility of elderly and handicapped persons;
6. payments to housing owners for losses of rental income
incurred in holding for temporary periods housing units to be
utilized for the relocation of individuals and families
displaced by activities under this title;
7. disposition (through sale, lease, donation, or otherwise)
of any real property acquired pursuant to Title I, or its
retention for public purposes;
8. provisions of public
services, including but not limited to those concerned with
employment, crime prevention, child care, health, drug abuse,
education, energy conservation, welfare or recreation needs, if
such services have not been provided by the unit of general
local government (through funds raised by such unit, or received
by such unit from the state in which it is located) during any
part of the twelve-month period immediately preceding the date
of submission of the Statement with respect to which funds are
to be made available under Title I, and which are to be used for
such services, unless the Secretary finds that the
discontinuation of such services was the result of events not
within the control of the unit of general local government,
except that not more than 15 percent of the amount of any
assistance to a unit of general local government (or in the case
of non entitled communities not more than 15. percent statewide)
under this title including program income may be used for
activities under this paragraph unless such unit of general
local government used more than 15 percent of the assistance
received under this title for fiscal year 1982 or fiscal year
1983 for such activities (excluding any assistance received
pursuant to Public Law 98-8), in which case such unit of general
local government may use not more than the percentage or amount
of such assistance used for such activities for such fiscal
year, whichever method of calculation yields the higher amount,
and except that of any amount of assistance under this title
(including program income) in each of the fiscal years 1993
through 1998 to the City of Los Angeles and County of Los
Angeles, each such unit of general government may not use more
than 25 percent in each such fiscal year for activities under
this paragraph;
9. payment of the non-federal
share required in connection with a federal grant-in-aid program
undertaken as part of activities assisted under Title I;
10. payment of the cost of
completing a project funded under Title I of the Housing Act of
1949;
11. relocation payments and
assistance for displaced individuals, families, businesses,
organizations, and farm operations, when determined by the
grantee to be appropriate;
12. activities necessary to:
(a) develop a comprehensive community development plan; and (b)
to develop a policy-planning-management capacity so that the
recipient of assistance under this title may more rationally and
effectively (i) determine, its needs, (ii) set long-term goals
and short-term objectives, (iii) devise programs and activities
to meet these goals and objectives, (iv) evaluate the progress
of such programs in accomplishing these goals and objectives,
and (v) carry out management, coordination, and monitoring of
activities necessary for effective planning and implementation;
13. payment of reasonable
administrative costs related to establishing and administering
federally, approved enterprise zones and payment of reasonable
administrative costs and carrying charges related to: (a)
administering the HOME program under title II of the
Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act; and (b) the
planning and execution of community development and housing
activities, including the provision of information and resources
to residents of areas in which community development and housing
activities are to be concentrated with respect to the planning
and execution of such activities, and including the carrying-out
of activities as described in section 701(e) of the Housing Act
of 1954 on the date prior to the date of enactment of the
Housing and Community Development Amendments of 1981;
14. provisions of assistance including loans (both interim
and long term) and grants for activities which are carried out
by public or private non-profit entities, including:
(a) acquisition of real property; (b) acquisition, construction,
reconstruction, rehabilitation, or installation of (i) public
facilities (except for buildings for the general conduct of
government), site improvements, and utilities, and (ii)
commercial or industrial buildings or structures or other
commercial and industrial real property improvements; and (c)
planning;
15. assistance to neighborhood-based nonprofit organizations,
local development corporations, nonprofit organizations serving
the development needs of the communities in non-entitlement
areas, or entities organized under section 301(d) of the Small
Business Investment Act of 1958 to carry out a neighborhood
revitalization or community economic development or energy
conservation project in furtherance of the objectives of section
101(c), and assistance to neighborhood- based nonprofit
organizations, or other private or public nonprofit
organizations, for the purpose of assisting, as part of
neighborhood revitalization or other community development, the
development of shared housing opportunities (other than by
construction of new facilities) in which elderly families (as
defined in section 3(b)(3) of the United States Housing Act of
1937) benefit as a result of living in a dwelling in which the
facilities are shared with others in a manner that effectively
and efficiently meets the housing needs of the residents and
thereby reduces their cost of housing;
16. activities necessary to the development of energy use
strategies related to recipient’s development goals, to assure
that those goals are achieved with maximum energy efficiency,
including items such as: (a) an analysis of the manner in, and
the extent to, which energy conservation objectives will be
integrated into local government operations, purchasing and
service delivery, capital improvements budgeting, waste
management, district hearing and cooling, land use planning and
zoning, and traffic control, parking, and public transportation
functions; and (b) a statement of the actions the recipient will
take to foster energy conservation and the use of renewable
energy resources in the private sector, including the enactment
and enforcement of local codes and ordinances to encourage or
mandate energy conservation or use of renewable energy
resources, financial and other assistance to be provided
(principally for the benefit of low- and moderate-income
persons) to make energy conserving improvements to residential
structures, and any other proposed energy conservation
activities;
17. provision of assistance to private, for-profit entities,
when the assistance is appropriate to carry-out an economic
development project (that shall minimize, to the extent
practicable, displacement of existing businesses and jobs in
neighborhoods) that: (a) creates or retains jobs for low- and
moderate-income persons; (b) prevents or eliminates slums and
blight; (c) meets urgent needs; (d) creates or retains
businesses owned by community residents; (e) assists businesses
that provide goods or services needed by, and affordable to,
low- and moderate- income residents; or ‘(f) provides technical
assistance to promote any of the activities under subparagraphs
(a) through (e);
18. the rehabilitation or development of housing assisted
under Section 17 of the United States Housing Act of 1937;
19. provision of technical assistance to public or nonprofit
entities to increase the capacity of such entities to carry out
eligible neighborhood revitalization or economic development
activities, which assistance shall not be considered a planning
cost as defined in paragraph (12) or administrative costs as
defined in paragraph (13);
20. housing services, such as housing counseling, in
connection with tenant-based rental assistance and affordable
housing projects assisted under title II of the
Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act, energy
auditing, preparation of work specifications, loan processing,
inspections, tenant selection, management of tenant-based-rental
assistance, and other services related to assisting owners,
tenants, contractors, and other entities, participating or
seeking to participate in housing activities assisted under
title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing
Act;
21. provisions of assistance by recipients under this title
to institutions of higher education having a demonstrated
capacity to carry out eligible activities under this subsection
for carrying out such activities;
22. provision of assistance to public and private
organizations, agencies, and other entities (including nonprofit
and for-profit entities) to enable such entities to facilitate
economic development by (a) providing credit (including
providing direct loans and loan guarantees, establishing
revolving loan funds, and facilitating peer lending programs)
for the establishment, stabilization, and expansion of micro
enterprises; (b) providing technical assistance, advice, and
business support services (including assistance, advice and
support relating to developing business plans, securing funding,
conducting marketing, and otherwise engaging in micro enterprise
activities) to owners of micro enterprises and persons
developing micro enterprises; and (c) providing general support
(such as peer support programs and counseling) to owners of
micro-enterprises and persons developing micro enterprises;
23. activities necessary to make essential repairs and to pay
operating expenses necessary to maintain the habitability of
housing units acquired through tax foreclosure proceedings in
order to prevent abandonment and deterioration of such housing
in primarily low- and moderate-income neighborhoods;
24. provision of direct assistance to facilitate and expand
homeownership among persons of low and moderate income (except
that such assistance shall not be considered a public service
for purposes of paragraph (8) by using such assistance to: (a)
subsidize interest rates and mortgage principal amounts for low-
and moderate-income homebuyers; (b) finance the acquisition by
low-and moderate- income homebuyers of housing that is occupied
by the homebuyers; (c) acquire guarantees for mortgage financing
obtained by low- and moderate-income homebuyers from private
lenders (except that amounts received under this title may not
be used under this subparagraph to directly guarantee such
mortgage financing and grantees under this title may not
directly provide such guarantees); (d) provide up to 50 percent
of any down payment required from low- or moderate-income
homebuyer; or (e) pay reasonable closing costs (normally
associated with the purchase of a home) incurred by a low or
moderate income home-buyers; and
25. lead-based paint hazard evaluation and reduction, as
defined in section 1004 of the Residential Lead-Based Paint
Hazard Reduction Act of 1992, as implemented by regulations at
24 C.F.R. Part 35.
In accordance with federal regulations, no activity listed as
eligible under section 105(a) of the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1974 (as amended) will be specifically
excluded from any component of the Small Cities Community Block
Grant Program.
Mr. Miller stated that the application for the 2008 Formula
Grant is due by June 27, 2008 and the Grant will be awarded on
September 1, 2008. He further noted that the County may also
apply for neighborhood revitalization grants up to $300,000 if
in a concentrated area. He stated that he and Mr. Steve Brown
would work on identifying these areas and will need to be
submitted under the formula allocation grant.
The Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP) application
is due by May 2, 2008 and will also be awarded on September 1,
2008. Mr. Miller stated that the County can apply for up to
$550,000 in grant funds from this program for upgrades to
housing stock in the county.
He went over other programs available such
as Economic Development which is currently assisting with the
Zinc Ox project and stated that while there is a $400,000 limit
per project, there is no limit to how many projects you can
apply for. He further stated that there is a Water and Sanitary
Sewer Program in which application may be submitted on a
continuous basis throughout the program year, beginning in June
of 2008 and may request up to $600,000.
The Board thanked Mr. Miller for his
presentation. |
