Federal stimulus money to help with city's drainage project
Last Updated on 2/23/2012
Published on 5/29/2009
By Tommy Howard
thoward@gtowntimes.com
Drainage work is quite expensive, and the federal stimulus package may help with the City of Georgetown's project.
City Administrator Chris Eldridge told members of city council last week there's a good chance the city may be able to get a half-million dollar grant to use for its long-standing drainage problem.
Sarah Smith, community development director for the Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments (WRCOG) in Georgetown called Eldridge on her way back to the city last week from a meeting in Columbia.
She told the Georgetown Times Thursday that $5.9 million is available for South Carolina on a competitive basis. She recommended that Georgetown apply for $500,000 in funds for its drainage work.
The projects have to already have an engineer under contract, permits have to be in place, and the governmental entity has to be ready to bid the project in 60 days from the award of a grant, Smith said.
"This is one of the few projects in our region that meets the qualifications," she said.
As a general rule, a community or county can only have one active Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) at a time. And, Georgetown already has a project to extend the street scape project into the West End of Georgetown.
For this pool of money, however, the CDBG-R -- "R" for "Recovery" -- has a different focus.
Smith said this pool of money is aimed towards infrastructure and energy efficiency.
The goal of the program is to assist those impacted by the recession.
With high unemployment, the ArcelorMittal steel mill facing an indefinite closure in mid-July and an overall tough economy, Georgetown meets a number of the criteria.
"We are seeing some really good bid prices" on other projects, Smith said, and hopes the same will be true with the drainage project.
The grant application is due on June 10, she said.
In the West End project, WRCOG surveyed 443 people. Of that number, 409 were low income, which is one of the criteria for a grant to be approved.
Smith said after the grant application goes through the state level, and a public comment period, it has to go on to the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) office.
Washington has a final say on approval, she said.
"Once they hear from HUD, then they (South Carolina office) can issue the award."
That word will probably come in August, with work likely to begin in the fall, Smith said.
"The city is ready to work. It has been very helpful," she said. "This is a very good application, and it's a really needed application."
