In a nearly five-hour meeting on Monday night, May 21, Albion’s Downtown Revitalization (DTR) Committee selected 40 downtown projects to receive funding in the new facade improvement program.
The committee is working with a total of $414,450, which includes a federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Albion Economic Development Corp. (AEDC) matching funds.
A total of 52 grant applications were received, totaling more than $672,000, so the committee was faced with paring the projects to fit the available funds. Initially, the program’s intent was to provide a maximum of $15,000 per eligible project. However, due to the number of projects and the scope of work, the maximum grant allocation was reduced to $12,000.
The committee provided the following explanation of methodology used in the selections:
After review of the projects, the committee found that some applications included ineligible activities such as interior work or non-permanent improvements. After these activities were removed, applications represented a total of $647,957, creating an initial funds shortfall of $233,507.
Due to the funds shortfall, the committee eliminated four requests from applicants who had submitted multiple applications for the same building/facade for the same business use, even if the same business was spread across multiple parcels. Each eliminated application was added into what the committee considered the applicant’s primary application. This reduced the shortfall of available grant funds to $184,580.
Read the complete story in the May 30 Albion News & Petersburg Press, Print and E-Editions.
