The local Office of Economic and Community Development will apply for $298,504 in Community Development Block Grant funding, to be used for improvements in Bradford City.
At a hearing held Tuesday evening before the regular council meeting, OECD Executive Director Sara Andrews explained that the city is “inching back up to the $300,000” it was receiving seven or eight years ago before funding was decreased.
This was the first of two public hearings that will be held on the matter.
Andrews outlined the work that CDBG funding has paid for in the city in the years from 2014 through 2018.
Work included rehabilitating 12 owner-occupied units for an average cost of $55,857 per unit, which Andrews said often involved making homes with lead paint safer. Other tasks were demolishing 24 blighted buildings for an average of $6,412 per building; and working on streetscape improvements such as a Tibbitts Avenue project that was done in October 2016 and projects on Park and Jefferson streets and Leland Avenue that were done in September 2017.
The funding also repaid a demolition loan of $150,000 and paid for design services for Phases I and IA of the historic district streetscape project and the Jefferson Street and Thompson Avenue streetscape improvements.
Andrews said they plan to bid the Jefferson Street and Thompson Avenue projects either later this year or early next year.
Construction on the historic district streetscape is now underway, with work happening this year on Main Street. Work on Main Street will continue next year, and improvements are also slated then for Pine and Congress streets, said Andrews.
She hopes to secure a Keystone Communities Public Improvement Grant to help pay for the project, too.
During the regular council meeting that followed the work session, council authorized the filing of a grant proposal with the state Department of Community and Economic Development asking for a $300,000 Keystone Communities Public Improvement Grant.
Regarding next year’s Pine Street work, Andrews is unsure at this point whether it will be rebricked or paved, as it will likely depend on whether they are able to secure a Keystone grant.
Mayor Tom Riel said it would be a “shame to lose the last couple of brick streets we have.”
He would also like to see bricks on East Corydon Street repaired.
In bringing up East Corydon Street, they began talking about an ongoing project Allegheny Contracting is working on in that area — and allegations of damage done during construction.
“They don’t care. There doesn’t seem to be any accountability for what they do,” Andrews said.
She is hopeful they will repair any damage done while they are working.
