R2023-20 Resolution Approving Uses of Unallocated CDBG-CV Funds

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ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT DATE: February 6, 2023 TO: Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe and City Council Members FROM: Scot Wrighton, City Manager Cordaryl "Pat" Patrick, Director of Economic and Community Development SUBJECT: Resolution Approving Uses of Unallocated CDBG-CV Funds RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends the City Council approve the resolution allocating unused CDBG-CV funds. BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to economic, health, and social hardships for millions of people and a new awareness of the changes needed to reduce pandemic impacts in the future. As a result, the Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus (CDBG-CV) response grants were provided as supplemental funding to CDBG grantees under the CARES Act, to fund a wide range of community development activities to help communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to the direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and to mitigate future risks. The City of Decatur has an unobligated balance of approximately$1 million dollars remaining. However,these funds must be committed (under a project contract) by September 2023 or we will have to return these funds to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD). As a result, staff is recommending the following projects to expend these dollars before the September 2023 deadline (A formal agreement for each individual recommendation will come back to Council for final approval): 1. Realignment and reconfiguration of Garfield Park(catalyst project) - Staff has been working hand in glove with a developer and the Decatur Park District to master plan an overall campus style redevelopment on the Garfield School site, to include Garfield Park, which will be completed in a series of highly coordinated phases. This catalyst project seeks to redevelop the Garfield School site, to include high-quality residential uses (Independent Senior Living Apartments), other mixed-income housing units and a re- configured park, grow the population of the area and support nearby businesses by adding "purchase power" in the Neighborhood United neighborhood. However, the current park infrastructure at Garfield Park is very depressed and the community does not feel safe patronizing the park. In partnership with the Decatur Park District, funds will be used as a matching grant to reconfigure the existing park into a more user friendly and updated park that the community will utilize and be an integral part of the much larger Garfield catalyst project. A portion of the existing park will become a part of the mixed-use redevelopment of the Garfield site. These funds will be used for Garfield site catalyst project costs, outside the rehabilitation of Garfield School. 2. Acquisition, campus realignment and improvement of Wee Folks Properties—As Council knows, the City of Decatur and Macon County partnered to do a workforce development systems assessment, strategy and implementation roadmap. One of the key