When it comes to applying for federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, the city of Cheney is going to stick with what has proven to work — submitting infrastructure projects that qualify based upon meeting area benefit criteria.
Grantees receiving CDBG funding must ensure that at least 70 percent of its expenditures over a particular period are used to benefit low- and moderate-income persons. There are four ways to do this, according to information from Spokane County’s CDBG program. One of which is an “area benefit” — an activity that benefits all residents in a primarily residential area and an area where 46.69 percent are considered low- to moderate-income.
Cheney’s percentage of low- to moderate-income residents is calculated at 55.48 percent, based upon the latest American Community Survey data. The city has received $2.41 million in CDBG funding since 1985, planner Brett Lucas told the Planning Commission at its regular meeting Oct. 13, averaging between $95,000 – $100,000 a year in awards.
CDBG funding is at the end of its two-year cycle, and county officials estimate they should receive, as long as Congress approves program expenditures, about $1,342,000 in entitlement funds and another $50,000 in program income in 2015. Twenty percent, about $270,000, comes off the top and is dedicated to the city of Spokane Valley, with other county cities, towns and various taxing districts competing for most of the rest.
Cheney just finished utilizing over $100,000 for water main work on its North Sixth Street revitalization project, and Todd Ableman, Cheney’s public works director, expects water main work to be the subject of the city’s application in 2015. The primary project will be replacement of the water main along Oakland Street between Ninth and Tenth streets.
“If we have any money left over there might be a water main left over (to replace) on Clay Street,” Ableman said.
Ableman said the Oakland water main was a primary concern because it is an aging, steel pipe that is the source of numerous water supply problems in the area north of the Eastern Washington University campus.
“When you go into a certain area four to five times, that’s an indication we should be replacing a main,” he told the commission.
The commission also elected to continue the public hearing on the city’s “Parks and Recreation Comprehensive 10-Year Plan 2014-2024” to its next regular meeting Nov. 17. The plan was presented at the commission’s Sept. 8 meeting, and a public hearing was then opened.
The commission voted to keep the hearing opon to the October meeting in order for staff to address several questions brought up by commissioners, such as taking into account more regional population figures when it comes to facility use, not just those in Cheney.
In information items, Lucas told the commission the new Harvest Bluff residential development along Betz Road had its final plat for phase one recorded with the county, and had brought a real estate agent on board. Ableman noted that Cheney Hydroponics, the city’s first marijuana producer and processor, had broken ground on its property in Cheney’s Commerce and Industrial Park. The facility had most of its foundation and utility service footings installed, with installation of the building scheduled for later this week.
Ableman said the owners of the facility have told the city they hope to be up and running by mid-November. Lucas added that the city had received an application for a medical marijuana facility near the current location of Domino’s Pizza in the Cheney Plaza center, and that a public hearing was scheduled for Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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