One grant nearly secured, second sought

Church, office could be converted to community center

NORTH WALES » It’s not finalized yet, but North Wales Borough is on the verge of getting good news about one grant, and is seeking another.

Borough Manager Christine Hart announced Tuesday that the town has gotten word that they’re on the list for grant funding for a plan to modernize a former church and office on Main Street into a public community center.

“The grant that we put in, for the Pandemic Recovery Funds through Montgomery County: We asked for $3.2 million, we’ve just recently been conditionally awarded $1.2 million,” said Hart.

“So that’s fabulous news, but it would only cover about phase one-point-five of a three-phase project,” she said.

Back in April council first discussed plans to revive the former St. Luke’s Church building located at 125 N. Main Street, which was acquired by the borough in late 2016 as the church’s membership was declining. Since the church and an adjacent office building were acquired, the town has since used both as a source of rental income for art classes, use by local nonprofits, and the occasional performance, while the church congregation held their final service on April 24 and their lease agreement expires this summer.

At that time, council approved a grant application seeking $3.2 million in county pandemic recovery funds, for a plan to upgrade and modernize the two buildings, to allow it to be used by local nonprofits and groups helping those in need during lockdowns or times of hardship like the earliest days of COVID-19.

During that presentation, the manager said the plans could include converting former fellowship and pastor’s office into a flex area, outfitting classrooms as a nonprofit satellite center, with WiFi and work stations for the nonprofits to share.

Projects in the buildings could include adding a small elevator, central air conditioning, wider doors for accessibility, and switching from oil to natural gas heat, so local residents could access services from county or local nonprofits or agencies in town instead of farther away such as Norristown or Pottstown.

“Perhaps the elderly could meet the PEAK Center, or a veteran could speak to a representative. Somebody working with modes of transportation, that needs a ride to their doctor’s office, could work with TransNet, or get help with their SEPTA card,” Hart said at the time.

Earlier this month Hart said the borough’s project had made it through two rounds of vetting by county officials, and during council’s July 26 meeting, the manager said that the county has indicated that the borough has made the final cut, for a smaller amount than requested, pending approval by county commissioners in August.

“So what we are asking for is: RACP funding is now available, and I would like to utilize the same application, and the same plan, to seek funding,” Hart said.

The state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant funding comes with a long list of qualifications, included in council’s meeting materials packet for July 26, and the manager told council that she’s gotten informal indications from the office of state Rep. Liz Hanbidge, D-61st, that the lawmaker would back the borough’s application with a letter of support.

“This would be up to a $1 million grant application, and there would be, if awarded the full amount, a 50 percent match,” she said.

That 50 percent match, or $500,000 maximum, would likely come from the $2 million borrowing that council approved in 2020 to tackle capital projects around the borough and goals from the “North Wales 2040” comprehensive plan. As of the July meeting the town still has around $1.6 million left of that total, with the only spending so far going toward local sidewalk and road projects and the “Center Street Gateway” sidewalk upgrades near the borough’s borders, according to the manager.

“When we put in for the (county) pandemic funding, although there was no match, we did allocate up to $500,000 of the money we borrowed for capital improvements, and investment within the community. So it would not exceed the amount that has already been approved for a previous (grant) application,” she said.

Councilman Eion O’Neill said he thought the award was “great news,” and asked if there was any way the borough could still receive more from the county than the $1.2 million indicated so far. Hart said that was technically possible, but unlikely.

“I can’t say it’s no chance, but I think it’s a very slim chance. I don’t see that many people will be turning any money back, and that would be the only way,” she said.

Councilwoman Wendy McClure asked for specifics of the match, and Hart elaborated: the $1.2 million from the county, if awarded, could be supplemented by an additional $1 million from the state grant, plus the $500,000 from borough capital funding, to add up to a total of $2.7 million.

“But there are other funding opportunities coming in 2023. So depending on where we stand, and as part of the partial award, we will be revisiting the scope of work and adjusting the budget at the county’s request,” she said, likely by the end of 2022 ahead of 2023 grant applications.

“My thinking is that we don’t revise or scale down too much of the work, until we find out if we get this funding. If we’re able to couple this with the funding we’ve already been conditionally approved for, then it’s a very small revision to the scope of work,” she said.

Council President Sal Amato asked if the revised scope could mean “a good start on this project at the church,” and Hart said the county funds come with provisions “that it would be for the nonprofit community center, versus the venue portion of the church.”

“I’d like to wait until the latter part of the year, because if we start doing work now, or pre-planning, it will essentially waste some money in architects and bid fees and estimates,” she said.

“If we can figure out what our true scope of work is going to be, and bid the project once, that’s going to be more economical,” Hart said.

Council then voted unanimously to approve the RACP grant application, and Hart said she’d report back with updates at future meetings.