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MA0601-AG060425 DEPT: Engineering AGENDA REQUEST FORM DATE: April 25, 2006 ITEM #: ITEM CAPTION: PUBLIC HEARING to receive input on possible projects for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from Dallas County . GOAL(S): EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The City of Coppell is eligible, October 1, 2006 to receive $59,284 in FY 2006 CDBG funding from Dallas County. This public hearing is to receive input regarding possible projects that may be funded through this program, prior to reaching a final decision on what projects to undertake. Staff will be available for any questions at the Council meeting FINANCIAL COMMENTS: Agenda Request Form - Revised 09/04 Document Name: #CDBG Funding T H E C 1 T Y O F COPPELL f c y MEMORANDUM TO: 'Mayor and City Council FROM: Kenneth M Griffin, P E Director of Engineering /Public Works D 1TE April 25, 2006 RFF Public Hearing to receive input on possible projects for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from Dallas County. I - lic City_ of Coppell is eligible on October 1, 2006 to recei'vc `59,284 in FY 2006 CDBG luII(l1n<< from Dallas County This Public Hearing is to receive input regarding possible projects that ma% he funded through this program, prior to reaching a final decision on what project to iiiidcrtake -Niter the Public Hearing. staff has until May 26, 200( to submit a list of potential pro erts to Dallas County ( DB(i funded projects must meet one of the three following national objectives 1) eliminate blight 2) eliminate a community- threatening condition, and 3) principally benefit low /moderate in-ornne people The eligibility requirements associated with each F , fthe objectives significantly limit the city's choice of projects to fund Protects that address Americans with Disabilities Act ( 1Da) accommodations are an option for the city since they are generally assumed to meet one of nlic tlnrce national objectives The city is currently utilizing F) 2005 CDBG funds to design and construct the Samuel Boulevard C urbs and Ramps project !'his project consists of the reconstruction of 26 curbs / ramps that are not compliant with ADA i _quirements ' is rcvdewing seNeral types of projects that may meet the requirements of the CDBG full duno However, no projects will be fully eNaluated until stafl has received input from the 0urens via the Public Hearing G�;1TY OFd . I 'lc OF March 10 2006 Mr Jim Witt City Manager City of Coppell P O Box 9478 Coppell, TX 75019 Dear Mr Witt DALLAS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT Please be advised that, on October 1, the ( ity of Coppell will be able to receive $59,284 in FY2006 CDBG funding from Dallas County If the Cit} would like to utilize its new FY2006 funding please complete the enclosed forms which explain what activities will be undertaken and how many people will be assisted, and return them to Kim Nobles, Community Development Administrator, at 411 Elm Street, Third Floor, Dallas, Texas 75202 by 4:00 pm., Friday, May 26. Please note that if we do not receive this information by this date, then we will assume that your ( ity is not interested in utilizing this new fiinding, and it will be reallocated to the other cities in the County _s CDBG program. Fhis years allocation process is generally identical to those from previous years. In considering how to utilize your City's CDBG funds, please carefully select your projects. Ifyou have previously begun providing funding for a project that still needs additional money, we strongly encourage you to use your FY2006 allocation to complete this project before using it to fund new activities Similarly, rather than allocating your fiinding among a wide variety of prolects, please concentrate your funding on one or two projects that will have a much greater impact Also, we ha-, e increasingly had a number of that initially select projects, then change the projects a short time after they have been submitted to H1iD Because changing projects makes it very difficult for the program to complete its projects on- schedule (which can jeopardize the amount of CDBG funding that the County receives from HUD), the County will now only consider changing projects when there are either extenuating circumstances or when the change will allow CDBG funds to be expended more rapidly , '�s before. cities that anticipate using their CDBG allocation must hold at least one public hearing before reaching a final decision on what prolects to undertake So as to assist the City in publicizing any public hearing that it might hold, we will publish a newspaper notice for those hearings that will be held between April 1 1 and May 1 1 This notice will include the times, dates.. and locations for all known public hearings. 411 Elm Street, 3r Floor, Room 313 Dallas, Texas 75202 -3301 Telephone. (214) 653 -7601 Dallas County Administration Building e-mail rloessberg @dallascounty org Telecopier (214) 653 -6517 To be included in this notice please contact Kim Nobles at (214) 653 -6368 by March 27, 2006. We are available to assist your City in anyway that we can during this allocation process. If we can either answer any questions that you might have or review any possible projects that are under consideration, please do not hesitate to contact us. Sincerely _? Rick Loessberg Director of Planning & Development enclosures G 1� d OF February 28, 2006 DALLAS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT ADMINISTRATION Community Development Block Grant TO Commissioners Court THROUGH Rick Loessberg, Director of Planning & Development M FROM Kim D Nobles, Community Development Administrator SUBJECT FY2006 CDBG/HOME Allocation Process BACKGROUND Dallas County has participated in the CDBG program since 1988 1lnder this program, the County receives federal funding which can be used to undertake a wide variety of code, capital improvement, housing, and social service activities in the County's unincorporated area and in fourteen of its smaller cities. By virtue of participating in the CDBG program, the County also receives HOME/ADDI funding (which can only be used for such housing- related activities as rehabilitation, new construction, and upfront cost assistance) HUD has recently informed staff that the County will be receiving $1,959,616 in FY2006 CDBG assistance and $636,463 in FY2006 HOME/ADDI assistance, collectively, these amounts are about $498,000 lower than what the County received for FY2005 because of reductions in the federal appropriations and because Rowlett now has a population of over 50,000 and now directly receives funding on its own. IMPACT ON OPERATIONS Under the County's CDBG program, HOME /CDBG funds are first allocated for the program's administrative expenses and for consortium -wide projects like the Home Loan Counseling Center; these allocations cover the County's cost of operating the CDBG program and typically account for about one -third of the program's total funding The remaining funds are then allocated to each participating city and to the County's unincorporated area using a formula that takes into account each entity's low /moderate income population and total population Each entity then determines how it wishes to utilize this funding, and depending upon the entity's preference, these projects are principally implemented by the County, the entity, or some combination of the two Dallas Ccinty Administration Building Telephone (214) 653 -6368 11 E!m Street, 3" Floor, Room 310 Dallas, Tex is 75202 -3301 Telecopier (21 4) 653 -6517 E -Mail Address KPJobles @dallascounty or, Page 2 of 4 The County typically only reviews proposed projects to ensure that they are eligible under HUD's regulations. However, because of the adverse impact that a large number of small projects can have on the program's ability to meet HUD's annual spending requirements, staff has been allowed in the past to require cities to revise their proposed list of projects (if necessary) so that larger projects would be undertaken. To further emphasize and clarify the importance of having larger projects, staff would also like to continue to require that all projects other than code enforcement have budgets of at least $30,000 and to be able to strongly encourage cities that already have partially - funded CDBG projects to either finish funding these projects or to continue allocating funding to them before they begin funding new activities. HUD regulations also require the County to establish annual program objectives for the CDBG program. For the past several years, the County has required that CDBG projects meet at least one of the six objectives listed below, and for the County's FY2006 funding, staff would propose that these objectives continue to be utilized. • Promote low /moderate income homeownership, • Eliminate community - threatening conditions, • Provide for ADA- accessibility, • Improve the local economies of communities with limited tax bases, limited growth, and /or high unemployment; • Improve /maintain existing low /moderate income neighborhoods; and • Provide for orderly growth. IMPACT ON FINANCE A total of $2,596,079 is available from the County's FY2006 CDBG /HOME awards. It is proposed that $923,842 of this total amount be allocated in the following manner General Administration Housing Replacement Admin CDBG Project Engineer CHDO Activities Home Loan Counseling Center Indirect Costs CDBG Construction Inspector TOTAL $160,000 $140,000 $104,000 $ 93,449* $293,942 $ 72,451 60,000 $923,842 * This allocation is required under federal law and is equivalent to 15% of the County 's total HOME award, this S93,449 must be provided to special housing non- profits (('HDOs -- community housing development organizations) for use in acquiring, rehabilitating, or producing affordable housing Page 3 of 4 In reviewing these proposed allocations, please note that this $923 842 total is about $75,200 lower than last year's figure with the HLCC budget having been reduced by about $60,000 pursuant to the lower level of CDBG funding that the County will be receiving and the 15% statutory cap that is placed on funding activities like the Counseling Center with CDBG funds. No staffing changes are associated with any of these various admimstrative /service - delivery budgets. Detailed line -item budgets for the Counseling Center, the CDBG Engineer, Housing Replacement Administration, CDBG Construction Inspector and General Administration will be developed and presented to the Court for review later this summer with Health and Human Services anticipating submitting a request during the County's normal budget process to use County funds to offset the $60.000 reduction in CDBG funding for the Counseling Center It is also proposed that the $543,018 in HOME,ADDI funding that is available after the required $93,445 has been set -aside for CHDOs be allocated in the following manner- Housing Replacement $379,548 Up -Front Cost Assistance $163,470 Total $543,018 It is also proposed that an additional $150,000 in FY04 and FY05 administration carryover be allocated to the Housing Replacement budget so that this activity will be able to approach its current funding level (final FY04 and FY05 carryover amounts should be available in June and November 2006 respectively) The Housing Replacement funding will be available to build replacement housing in any of the CDBG program's fourteen cities, and the Up -Front Cost Assistance Program 0 �PCAP) funding will provide first -time homebuyers with closing cost or down - payment assistance. After setting aside funding for the aforementioned administrative expenses and consortium -wide programs, a total of $1,129,223 is available from the CDBG funds for the County's unincorporated area and for the participating CDBG cities, this amount is about $337,400 less than what was available last year Using the County's CDBG allocation formula, the proposed FY2006 CDBG allocation awards are as follows Sachse $ 45,733 Wilmer $ 90,620 Cockrell Hill $102,194 Hutchins $ 88,644 Glenn Heights $ 65,495 Lancaster $ 97,678 Cedar Hill $ 86,950 Seagoville $ 82,998 Coppell $ 59,284 University Park $ Duncanville $ 90,902 Unincorporated Area $ 84,694 Balch Springs $102.195 Farmers Branch $ 83,280 Combine $ 48,556 *University Park has again returned it s award so that it can be redistributed among the other participating entities Page 4 of 4 In reviewing these amounts, please note that they are generally about $5,000- $33,000 smaller than what most cities received last year Please also note that the unincorporated area allocation, along with $15,306 from FY04 administration carryover, will be reallocated back to Cockrell Hill's water project to cover existing funding that was transferred from this project to the Wagon Wheel Street project so that the Wagon Wheel project could be completed by July 31, 2006 PROJECT SCHEDULE Application materials will be provided to each city by March 15, 2006, and the cities will then be given until 4 p.m on May 26 to notify the County of how they wish to utilize this funding (such a schedule is similar to what has been traditionally provided). If no notification is received by May 26, it will be assumed that the entity is not interested in utilizing its award. So that no city inadvertently lets its award revert back to the program, staff will contact each city about two weeks before May 26 to remind them of the upcoming deadline. To help encourage public input, the County will hold a public hearing in April and in June, and the participating cities will be required to conduct at least one public hearing before submitting their project proposals to the County Once staff has had the opportunity to review the eligibility of the requested projects, the Court will be briefed on the proposed activities. Final decisions regarding projects that will be using FY2006 funding have to be made and submitted to HUD no later than August 15 Once approved by HUD, and other compliance items are completed these projects can then begin operation as soon as October 1. 2006 RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the proposed FY2006 CDBG objectives, allocations, and project review process be approved. Recommended by- .1 Allen Clemson, Administrator cc CDBG cities CDBG staff Ryan Brown, Budget Officer Ronica Watkins, Sr Budget & Policy Analyst Virginia Porter, Auditor Don Holzwarth, Public Works Director Jamie Fitchko, Director, HLC( T H E C I T Y O F COPPELL T PRESS RELEASE NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Tuesday, April 25, 2006 7:00 p.m. City Council Chambers 255 Parkway Blvd. The City of Coppell will hold a public hearing at 7:00 p.m., 4pril 25, 2006 at Town Center, 255 Parkway Blvd., Coppell, Texas. The purpose of the Public Hearing is to gather citizen input on the FY 2006 Community Development Block Grant (CGBG) funding. The City of Coppell will be able to receive $59,284 from the FY 2006 CDBG funding. After the completion of the public hearings, Dallas County and HUD approval, funding would become available October 1, 2006. The public is encouraged to attend and suggest how these funds can be used in the City of Coppell. :: (citizen ,Ab borate • LIVING • APRIL 21, 2006 9 io: ,pel NOTICE OFPUBUC HEARING Tuesday, April 25, 2006 7:00 p.m. City Council Chambers 255 Parkway Blvd. The City of Coppell will hold a pub- lic hearing at 7 p m., April 25, 2006 at Town Center, 255 Parkway Blvd., Coppell, Texas. The purpose of the Public Hearing is to gather citizen input on the FY 2006 Community Development Block Grant (CGBG) funding. The City of Coppell will be able to re- ceive $59,284 from the FY 2006 CDBG funding. After the completion of the public hearings, Dallas County and HUD approval, funding would become available October 1, 2006. The pub- lic is encourageci to attond and suggest how these funds can be used in the City of (--nppell