CHENEY – City officials are planning to hold off for now on making a specific application for Community Development Block Grant funding from Spokane County.
Public Works Director told the Planning Commission during a public meeting on the program on Monday, Oct. 12, that the city didn’t apply for any money from the program last year out of concern for funding levels in the Water Department reserve accounts. That remains true this year, with Cheney taking steps to replenish those levels through rate increases and fee restructuring.
The city has been relatively successful over the years in getting money from the program thanks to its residential street preservation program — revenue produced by local taxes and which is used sometimes as matching amounts often required in these applications. According to information presented at the meeting, Cheney averages $95,000 – $100,000 in CDBG funding, and has received about $2 million since its inception in 1989.
Ableman said they are applying for $500,000 in state Transportation Improvement Board funding for another street preservation project similar to work that took place this summer on Washington Street through the Eastern Washington University campus. The new project involves preservation work — including sidewalk construction and repair — on Clay Street from 4th to 6th streets and 6th Street from Clay to North 2nd Street.
“If that comes in and we feel comfortable we’ll probably apply for a CDBG project, and that would be water main replacement,” Ableman said.
The last project completed with CDBG funding was water main work on North 3rd Street between Elm and Oakland. Ableman said they had planned on shifting that work to North 4th Street, but would likely replace mains on a short section of Elm east of North 6th down to North 5th.
“As we move forward I think we’re just cautiously optimistic we can probably put in a grant application and go from there,” he added.
CDBG funding is provided as part of a county consortium that includes Cheney, Airway Heights and Medical Lake along with eight other cities and towns and the city of Spokane Valley, which receives an annual set aside amount of 20 % of available funding, roughly $270,000, for infrastructure projects. Cheney senior planner Brett Lucas said Spokane Valley population helps the other members in securing a good level of funding annually — totaling $1.35 million in 2020.
When the city of Cheney does apply for these projects, we actually qualify quite well because we do have a couple of census tracts in the city of Cheney that are low-income because of the university and college kids so that actually helps us in terms of actual qualifications for projects,” Lucas said. “Generally when we apply we get close to what we ask for.”
While most jurisdictions apply for funding for construction, Lucas said other eligible entities for CDBG dollars include services for the disabled, cancer patients, food banks and outreach centers, domestic violence and sexual assault service providers and homeless shelters.
“The region is seeing an increase in homelessness, especially among school-age kids,” Lucas noted. “It’s hitting Cheney a little harder than other areas.”
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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