SHELBURNE — The town plans to apply for another Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to fund both the West County Emergency Food Pantry and Phase 2 of the town’s Bridge Street construction project.
The second phase of that project will include repairs and changes to sidewalks, streets, trees, the town’s water main and sewer. On Monday night, the Selectboard held a public CDBG application hearing on Zoom to discuss the importance and use of the funding that could be received.
First up on the agenda was a discussion with Justin Costa, program coordinator of the Community Action Pioneer Valley’s West County Emergency Food Pantry. Costa spoke about how the CDBG funding supports the pantry’s work, and how the upcoming grant application will continue to allow the pantry to operate weekly and with several options for guests.
“It’s been an integral part to our pantry’s budget and operating costs, ” Costa said.
“This funding has gone a long way — our ability to be open in two separate sites, primarily here in West County; to have a van that we can have on the road picking up donations throughout the community; and the delivery system we have,” he said, listing pantry operations that are in part due to the last grant’s funding. Included was also the ability to buy fresh produce weekly to supplement donations.
“The CDBG is about one-third of the West County’s operating budget that I’ve seen, and I do remember there were a couple years there wasn’t that kind of support for the pantry,” Linda Overing of Breezeway Farm Consulting added. “When we started doing that was when you were able to have more frequent distributions.”
Funding for the local pantry is only part of the CDBG. Also presenting at the meeting was Mike Carter of GCG Associates, the civil engineering firm in charge of Bridge Street repair plans. Carter, the lead project manager, spoke to members of the Selectboard and the public about the plans he and his team have created through much consultation and discussion.
Carter shared his screen and went through each aerial drawing, noting that the primary modifications in Phase 2 will involve the trees.
“The utility work doesn’t change much from what we did in Phase 1,” he said, referring to the planned replacement of a water main beginning on Baker Avenue and repair of the sewer to improve circulation and water flow.
Resetting steps and curbs, as well as putting in new sidewalks and streets, will also be project measures included in the grant application.
Included in resetting both steps and curbs was the possibility that Carter could make more businesses’ entrances accessible for people with disabilities. Due to the smaller nature of the space he was working with and various foundations, however, there are certain instances where he said it is physically impossible to create fully accessible walkways and entrances.
The creation of new sidewalks brought Carter to discuss the matter of tree removal and placement along the Phase 2 portion of Bridge Street, which community members had been previously concerned about at the last in-person public meeting GCG Associates hosted.
Carter is working to save as many of the six trees in the project area as possible, though he admitted he can’t say with certainty that any trees can be saved until GCG Associates digs up the sidewalk and can see root growth.
The project will add two more trees to this stretch of street, bringing the total involved in this project to eight. While it’s not looking like workers will have to uproot all six existing trees, Carter said, the budget has enough funding to buy and plant eight total trees in that instance.
Carter assured hearing attendees that the Tree Committee will have the final say regarding anything to do with tree placement and removal.
At this point, he reported, the financial projections for Phase 2 are at around $731,000 of the $737,000 grant budget.
The Selectboard ultimately approved the Phase 2 construction plan as presented during the hearing.
Shelburne will apply for the CDBG funding next month, and will receive notice of acceptance or denial around February 2022. If the town receives funding, Phase 2 construction will begin in the fall of 2022 and is predicted to end in the spring of 2023.