MONTAGUE — Public discussion of Community Development Block Grant funding for fiscal year 2020 has been pushed back to a tentative date of Jan. 27. The town received fewer applications than it is able fund, and has thus extended the application period.
The Community Development Block Grant is administered by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Montague is eligible for funding because of its low- and moderate-income populations, Montague Town Planner Walter Ramsey said.
The town typically gets about $730,000 a year through the grant, which is used to fund infrastructure projects and social service programs, Ramsey said. Notably, this year the grant funded the construction of a new playground in Rutter’s Park in Lake Pleasant.
In social services, the town uses the grant to fund four programs, each of which gets about $20,000 each year. The social service programs funded by the grant have historically fit into similar niches each year, Ramsey said: elder services, programs for disadvantaged youths, English language learning programs and substance abuse or violence prevention. The uses of the grant can change over time according to the community’s issues. Of the four niches, substance abuse prevention is a relatively newer need; it was specifically a response to the rise of opioids, Ramsey said.
The Selectboard had planned to discuss Community Development Block Grant funding for fiscal year 2020 at a meeting on Dec. 16. But in the social services category, the town had only received three applications, plus a fourth that arrived late. All four were from programs that had been funded through the grant before, said Town Administrator Steve Ellis.
Rather than only fund three programs, the Selectboard decided to extend the application period for the fourth slot. (The first three, which were submitted without any problems, are secure.) Proposals go through a review committee, made up of Ellis, Ramsey and Brian McHugh, the assistant director of the Franklin County Regional Housing and Redevelopment Authority’s community development program.
Proposals must be received to Ellis before Jan. 8, when the review committee will meet again. A public discussion of the potential projects is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 27.
For infrastructure projects, Ramsey mentioned a renovation of the streetscape on Avenue A’s east side, between 2nd and 3rd streets (the block with the Shea Theater Arts Center). The town already has a design, which was funded by an earlier Community Development Block Grant. Construction will cost about $439,000, Ramsey said.
He also mentioned a new playground at Hillcrest Elementary School. The present one is showing its age and is not fully code-compliant anymore, he said. It would be $40,000 for the design work. Construction costs are not known yet, but Ramsey guessed it could be between $120,000 and $200,000.
The Selectboard was skeptical of the new playground, but not totally dismissive. The sticking point was that the town has recently used large amounts of grant money for similar projects, like the new Lake Pleasant playground and the upcoming renovations to Spinner Park on Avenue A.
“How many $250,000 parks can we afford?” Selectboard Chair Rich Kuklewicz pointed out. “Forty grand just to design it?”
Ramsey said he should have a clearer idea of construction costs for the playground by the end of January, when the Selectboard will revisit the Community Development Block Grant and hear public input on the proposals.
For more information about how to submit a proposal, contact Ellis at 413-863-3200, ext. 110 or townadmin@montague-ma.gov, or visit bit.ly/2MbZxd9.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 261.