BLOCK GRANT APPLICATION AIRED AT JACKSON

JACKSON If a proposed Community Development Block Grant application is approved this summer, it would allow the rehabilitation of 60 substandard Jackson homes and permit the city to make street improvements in the north central part of town.

Kathy Mangels of the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission in Perryville explained details of Jackson's 1992 Community Development Block Grant application during a 35-minute public hearing. The hearing took place prior to the regular Monday meeting of the Jackson Board of Aldermen. The commission is assisting the city in the preparation of its grant application.

Mangels said the area of the grant application is bounded by North Hope Street to the west, Florence Street to the south, Eastview Court to the east, and Short Street to the north. About 35 to 40 people who live in or near the targeted area attended the hearing. All supported the project.

If the two-year grant is approved, Mangels said the city proposes to extend North Hope from its present dead end to connect with Hickory Street and improve about 2,400 feet of Greensferry Road from North Hope to August Street.

Total cost of the project is estimated at slightly more than $1 million. The city plans to contribute about $225,000 in cash and another $54,000 in in-kind services. The local money and services would be matched with block grant funds of $778,000.

Mangels said the first year of the grant program would include renovation of 30 substandard houses in the grant application's targeted area and extension of North Hope Street to Hickory Street.

The second year of the project would include the rehabilitation of another 30 units of substandard housing and improvements along Greensferry Road.

Mangels said funding for the rehabilitation of the houses would be in the form of grants to homeowners or property owners in the targeted area.

Mangels said the North Hope Street extension would give residents another way to get in and out of their neighborhood. Right now they must use Greensferry Road.

Mangels said the street extension would improve response times for emergency fire, ambulance and police services, and take some of the traffic off Greensferry Road.

Mangels said the total project would benefit 62 percent of low- and moderate-income persons in the city.

But she cautioned competition among Missouri cities for the grants is stiff. "The program is highly competitive," she said. "Usually only one of six applications submitted is actually funded."

The city must file its application with the state by March 15. Mangels said the list of cities whose applications have been funded will be announced around June 15.

The board of aldermen will approve a resolution at its March 2 meeting to formally submit the grant application.