The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Grant program returning for 2021
Downtown building owners can apply for funds to help pay for facade improvements
For the second year in a row, Madison Village intends to make grant money available for improving the fronts of downtown buildings.
Madison Village Administrator Dwayne Bailey said he soon will schedule a kickoff meeting during which downtown building owners can learn more about obtaining Community Development Block Grant funds for facade upgrades involving items such as awnings, masonry, steps and windows.
The village helped building owners secure CDBG money for three projects through a similar program in 2020.
“We already have had several people call to see if the program is going to get picked up (for 2021),” Bailey said, during the Jan. 25 Village Council meeting.
Building owners will need to apply and get their facade-upgrade plans approved in order to qualify for portions of a $35,000 CDBG grant. Last year’s grant consisted of an identical overall amount.
Proposals that meet program requirements would be reimbursed at 50 percent of the actual project cost, up to $10,000.
Community Development Block Grant funding in general is used for public improvements, public facilities construction, economic development programs, housing programs, public services and program administration.
In Lake County, local government entities and organizations apply for CDBG funding, which is federal money provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, through the county Office of Planning and Community Development. Lake County commissioners approve the annual distribution of CDBG funds to applicants.
Since Madison only received three applications in 2020 from downtown building owners seeking CDBG funds for facade projects, Bailey asked commissioners if the maximum reimbursement for each endeavor could be increased.
That request was authorized by commissioners. The revised agreement for 2020 stated the property owners would be reimbursed for 60 percent of the actual cost of their projects — up from the original 50 percent level. The maximum reimbursement amount per project also was doubled, to $20,000 from $10,000.
With those increases, the village was able to use the entire $35,000 grant awarded for 2020 to reimburse the property owners for their three projects, Bailey said in a previous NewsHerald story.
One organization that benefited last year from the village’s CDBG grant for facade improvements was the Madison Historical Society. The society received a $16,000 portion of the grant to put toward the $28,000 cost of repairing the brickwork, parapet and steps of its newly acquired building on West Main Street.
That building, at 126 W. Main, was constructed 102 years ago as Madison’s first public library. More recently, the building served for about 45 years as Madison Village Hall.
The society purchased the building in July of 2020 for $53 — a $10 sale price and $43 in closing costs — as the village government administration and Police Department wrapped up its move to the former Stratton Place community center at 33 E. Main St.
Exterior repairs to the Madison Historical Society building that are being funded in large part by the CDBG grant are expected to begin soon, the organization stated in its December newsletter.
“That will be priority No. 1 this spring,” the society wrote.