GRANT REFUSED: CITY MUST WAIT AT LEAST A YEAR TO RENOVATE HOMES

The Missouri Department of Economic Development has refused a grant that would have renovated up to 70 homes and rental buildings in south Cape Girardeau.

The Community Development Block Grant program has enabled the city since 1982 to make almost $3 million in improvements in blighted sections of the city.

About 130 homes have been rehabilitated and two miles of streets and alleys have been paved through the state program.

But Steve Williams, Cape Girardeau's housing assistance coordinator, said the city's application this year for almost $800,000 in grant funds has been denied.

That means the city will have to wait until next year to reapply for the grant.

Despite the state's rejection of the grant application, Williams said several homes still will be renovated this year with funds remaining from a 1992 block grant. He said those funds will run out at nearly the same time the city reapplies for a new grants at the end of the year.

"Basically, if the application would have been approved, there would have been an overlap in projects," he said. "We like to keep it that way, but we're not always able to.

"We've got another 24 to 30 units we'll rehab again this year, depending on the cost of each project, and about the time this program runs out, it will be time to make application for a new grant."

Williams said he was "pretty confident" the city will get the money next year.

Cities from throughout the state compete for the limited CDBG funds, with only one in six applications accepted.

In the proposed grant area, 30 of the 109 houses are considered either dilapidated or "severely" dilapidated. Also, 77 percent of the property owners in the area qualify for the grant program's income guidelines.

The area is bounded by Beaudean Lane on the west; Locust Street on the south; Fort Street and Giboney Avenue on the east; and Maple Street to Ellis, south to Elm, and west to Beaudean on the north.

The Community Development Block Grant program provides up to $13,000 per unit to make repairs to the homes ranging from a new roof to new cabinets and carpeting.

For owner-occupied homes, the owner must remain in the home for at least four years after the improvements, and for rental units the housing must be made available to low- to moderate-income tenants for at least four years.

Also, owners of rental units must share the cost of the housing improvements.

Also included in the grant application were water line improvements on Ranney and Locust and paving of Walnut Street, from Sprigg to Ranney, and Elm, from Sprigg to Giboney.

The total project, including city contributions, would have resulted in more than $900,000 in improvements.

Cape Girardeau isn't the only city to receive the bad news from the Department of Economic Development.

For the second consecutive year an $800,000 grant for the city of Jackson also was denied, while Delta, for the fifth consecutive year, was unable to get a grant for city water improvements.

The neighborhood in Jackson's grant application is one of the city's oldest. It is bounded on the south by Florence Street, on the east by Maryland and Greensferry Road, on the north by Olive and Hickory, and on the west by North Hope and Hubble Creek.

The city planned to pave and widen Greensferry from Hope to August and to extend Hope northward to connect with Independence.

Other street projects were included in the application, along with housing rehabilitation in the area.

In Delta, the grant would have funded the construction of a water tower, installation of a second city water pump, construction of 2,000 feet of water main and addition of fire hydrants.