CEDC to approve new program next week

A program to help downtown property owners improve their storefronts is set to receive final approval when the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation Board meets in called session next Monday at 5:15.

This week the CEDC held a public hearing on its proposed Façade Grant Program, and 15 people attended with several making comments or suggestions. The feedback from the forum was generally positive.

Edwin Campbell, who works with First Baptist Church’s Downtown Ministry Center, was enthusiastic about the plan.

“We appreciate this program, and we’re excited about it,” he said.

The Façade Grant Program as it is proposed would provide fifty-fifty matching grants up to a maximum of $2,000 per project for properties on a three-block stretch of Kearney Street between First and Fourth Streets.

For example, if the total of a project costs $1,500, the CEDC would contribute a maximum of $750. A $4,000 project would be eligible for the maximum of $2,000, and any projects costing more than $4,000 would only be eligible for the maximum of $2,000 of CEDC funds.

Projects eligible for consideration could be anything from a simple coat of paint to new signage to a complete rehabilitation of a storefront. The funds will be paid to successful applicants when invoices are submitted for the completed project.

Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Judy Burlin said her organization is behind the project “all the way” and will do whatever it can to help.

Based on feedback from the public, the board agreed to relax the requirement that projects must conform to a historical appearance, and confirmed that an already completed project could be eligible if it was completed in the current fiscal year.

The board also discussed whether a property that receives money in this fiscal year could be eligible for additional grant money in the future. It was agreed that these properties could apply again but only after the start of the third quarter of the next fiscal year and with the stipulation that preference would be given to new applicants.

The board did decide to stipulate that CEDC funds could not be used for labor costs if the owner, the tenant, or the applicant’s employees do the work. In that case, the grant would cover supplies and materials only.

Following next Monday’s meeting, finalized guidelines and grant applications will be distributed to property owners and tenants in the grant area.

The board will begin considering grant applications at its May 5 meeting.

The program will run through the close of this fiscal year, which ends September 30, 2008. The program’s future will depend on its success this year.