CHRISTIE ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES AWARD OF MORE THAN $6 MILLION IN SMALL CITIES BLOCK GRANTS
Funding Will Benefit Community Renovations in Small Cities throughout New Jersey
TRENTON – December 11, 2013 – (RealEstateRama) — The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) today announced the awards of more than $6 million in Small Cities Block Grants to municipalities in New Jersey. The 19 grants will benefit 16 municipalities in 6 counties, 2 county-wide programs and approximately 25,000 people across the state, including senior citizens and persons with disabilities. Awards in this year’s grant round will go towards funding projects ranging from making access ramps at beaches and parks ADA compliant, street reconstruction, and rehabilitating affordable housing, many which were damaged by Superstorm Sandy.
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The DCA’s Division of Housing and Community Resources administers the Small Cities Community Development Block Grants, which are used for housing rehabilitation, development of public facilities, and improvements to public infrastructure. The grants are designated to benefit people of low and moderate-income or to address recent local needs for which no other source of funding is available. Funding for the Small Cities Program is provided by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Community Development Block Grant Program.
“Our primary objective is to develop these viable communities by improving their housing situations, their overall quality of life, and their economic opportunities,” stated DCA Commissioner Richard E. Constable, III. “The Small Cities grants give incentives to local communities to focus on housing rehabilitations, urban renewal, and other public services. It is the best way for us to give maximum benefits to some of our most vulnerable citizens.”
The municipalities receiving Small Cities grants develop their own projects and funding priorities. The projected use of funds must be developed to give maximum feasible priority to activities which benefit low and moderate income persons or aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight.
The projected use of funds may also include activities that the applicant certifies are designed to meet other urgent community development needs because existing conditions pose a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community where other financial resources are not available to meet such needs. At least 70 percent of the State’s annual grant allocation made available to units of general local government must benefit low- and moderate-income persons.
A description of the 2014 Small Cities CDBG grant recipients and projects are listed below:
| Grantee Name |
Project Description |
Award Amount |
| Burlington City | To rehabilitate up to ten single-family, low-income owner-occupied homes. |
$200,000 |
| Burlington City | To install or reconstruct ADA-compliant sidewalk ramps at the City’s Memorial Hall. |
$400,000 |
| Cape May City | To install and construct ADA-compliant ramps, walkways, sidewalks as well as and parking at various locations. |
$400,000 |
| Cape May County | For the purchase of beach badge-making equipment used by the Jersey Cape Diagnostic Training and Opportunity Center, which provides jobs for 110 disabled individuals. |
$285,075 |
| Commercial Township | To install storm sewer pipe and inlets along various roadways in the Laurel Lake Neighborhood to alleviate flooding. |
$380,000 |
| Cumberland County | To install a series of ADA-compliant infrastructure improvements and facility upgrades at three county buildings. |
$400,000 |
| Dover Town | To reconstruct four streets and associated infrastructure improvements. |
$400,000 |
| Downe Township | To stabilize the shoreline of the creek along Bayview Avenue. | $130,000 |
| Hopewell Township | To ensure that the Township Municipal Complex is accessible to handicapped persons and senior citizens. |
$274,199 |
| Lambertville City | To rehabilitate up to 10 single-family, low-income owner-occupied homes. |
$200,000 |
| Middle Township | To remove barriers that restricts access for disabled persons at the Township Municipal Building, Public Works Facility, Samuel S. DeVico Senior Center and the Clarence & Georgiana Davies Recreation Complex. |
$229,091 |
| Pemberton Borough | To eliminate and replace Pemberton Borough’s sewer inverted siphon and main line with a new connection to the main trunk line. |
$302,670 |
| Penns Grove Borough | For storm drainage improvements. |
$309,049 |
| Pittsgrove Township | To demolish and redevelop a blighted and unsafe grain mill. |
$400,000 |
| Stone Harbor Borough | To remove barriers that hinder accessibility of handicapped persons at the Municipal Complex, Fire House and Public Works Facility in Stone Harbor Borough. |
$400,000 |
| Wildwood City | To renovate boardwalk restrooms and ensure they are handicap-accessible. |
$400,000 |
| Wildwood Crest Borough | To replace storm drainage facilities to alleviate flooding. |
$400,000 |
| Woodbine Borough | To renovate the Woodbine MUA Water Tower to guarantee a safe public water supply for the Borough’s residents. |
$400,000 |
| Wrightstown Borough | For infrastructure improvements. |
$400,000 |
|
19 Approved Applications Total: |
$ 6,310,084 |
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For more information on Small Cities Community Development Block Grants, log on to http://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/dhcr/offices/cdbg.html.
