S’ton to apply for CDBG grant

A presentation from Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program officials highlighted the Summerton Town Council meeting Tuesday evening.

The CDBG is a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program that is sponsored by the South Carolina Department of Commerce.

Jim Darby of Santee-Lynches Regional Council of Governments and Housing and Community Development Director Stephanie Smith presented to the council and citizens of Summerton their proposal of a Housing and Urban Development plan.

“(This plan)creates an opportunity for the town of Summerton, perhaps in partnership with the county, to address sections of the community that need a comprehensive approach to solve some of the problems that the community believe exist,” said Darby. “Things such as substandard housing conditions, public safety issues, open space issues and drainage problems.

“It creates an opportunity for a small town like Summerton to acquire a significant amount of value for very small investments and then to phase in a redevelopment effort to take care of problems in the community or community needs that have existed for a considerable period of time.”

The Department of Commerce along with the HUD also has a new grant program called Village Renaissance.

This is a grant that allows a community to revitalize and revamp a neighborhood that is within walking distance of its downtown and business centers; the Department of Commerce has declared that distance as half a mile.

It is a plan that will increase the value of local properties and have them sustainable that will in turn allow them to channel themselves with the working businesses.

“Neighborhoods within a half mile radius of your downtown areas would qualify for this grant,” said Smith. “The idea behind the Village Renaissance Grant is really to establish a stable community and neighborhood within the town and to link those neighborhoods with commercial successes in your downtown area.”

Within the Village Renaissance program, there are three phases that must be met in order to receive grant funding.

The first is a 12-month phase and the town must provide its own $2,500 and it will be matched with $2,500 and then they will receive $25,000.

Before they can move on with the grant, they have to create plans or a list of items they want to improve and they base that list on several key elements such as a comprehensive needs assessment and prioritization, comprehensive strategies for revitalization, preliminary engineering report cost estimates, analysis of acquisition requirements such as title searches and surveys.

Other elements are environmental reviews records for all revitalization activities, low-to-moderate income (LMI) survey determinations and the roles and responsibilities for the neighborhood, local government involvement and other organization commitments to planning and implementation.

Another reason that Summerton is interested in the grant is that the SCDC only puts their funding in areas that have 51 percent or more of low-to-moderate income.

After the preliminary list is complete, they negotiate with the Department of Commerce and phase two and three begin together for 24 months.

Each phase earns them $500,000 and they must again match 10 percent or $50,000.

“You don’t have to compete for that money because you’ve already done your plan,” said Smith. “They take you out of the competitive process and they know, and you know, that if you do everything you said you were going to do, you are going to receive a million dollars that already has your name on it at the Department of Commerce.”

During the final two phases, there can be work going on such as water, sewer, road and drainage system improvements.

Such work could include improvements on public facilities and housing, as well as demolition of vacant and dilapidated buildings and improvement of public services such as crime watch, drug and gang education and awareness and prevention programs.

To obtain the grant, the services must be continued after the grant is closed without creating an operating burden on the local government.

A Village Renaissance project is already at work in the City of Manning with the Marie Land Habitat Village at Dinkins and DuBose Streets, just east of Manning’s downtown corridor. At present, two Habitat homes have been built with plans for at least two more as well as a public park to be constructed.