Community Development Block grants were awarded Tuesday to Amherst, Easthampton and two groups of Hilltowns to pay for improvements including repairs for housing and infrastructure, as well as social services.
The awards were made by the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker. The block grants fund economic development projects to support the needs of low- and moderate-income residents.
Amherst received $825,000, with Geoffrey Kravitz, the town’s economic development director, at the State House to receive the award.
“This helps support a lot of projects that we feel are important to Amherst, and social services that we value here,” Kravitz said Tuesday night.
The town’s CDBG Committee made recommendations for spending in advance of the award, with $535,000 going toward capital projects. These include $200,000 to improve the bathrooms in the Bangs Community Center; $150,000 to make a section of Boltwood Walk leading to the Bangs Center more accessible for people with mobility issues; $72,000 for heating, air conditioning and ventilation equipment at the future John P. Musante Health Center; and $113,000 for improvements to Amherst Housing Authority properties.
An additional $165,000 will support social services in Amherst, ranging from the emergency food pantry at the Amherst Survival Center to an adult education program at The Literacy Project Inc.
Easthampton received $800,000 for infrastructure and housing.
The majority, $627,000, will go toward the first of a three-phase project to improve the infrastructure in the Admiral Street neighborhood. Also, $84,000 will be spent on housing projects and $89,000 will go to administrative costs.
Easthampton is eligible to apply for the grants every other year. It was last awarded a grant in 2014.
Mayor Karen L. Cadieux said Tuesday, “$800,000 is the full amount requested, which is extremely exciting. We would have been happy with anything we received, but to get the full amount is a huge bonus – a wonderful surprise.”
Work on the first phase of the infrastructure project will occur on Admiral, Church and George streets and a small portion of Briggs Street, where streets, sidewalks, catch basins and sewer lines will be replaced. The project is set to break ground next spring, according to City Planner Jessica Allan.
“The pipelines in this area were basically built by the mills in the early 1900s,” Allan said. “They’ve been mostly untouched since then.”
Groundwater infiltrates the sewer lines during wet periods, causing backups into homes and water to seep into basements. The stormwater system is also in poor condition, which causes flooding in some areas, she said.
The second and third phases of the project will see similar work completed in other areas that officials hope will be funded by future block grants. The project design was paid for by a 2014 grant.
“These are badly needed repairs that we would never be able to do without these grant funds,” Cadieux said.
The $84,000 for housing rehabilitation will pay for projects at two or three homes.
The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission for several years has run the city’s housing rehabilitation program, which brings homes occupied by low- to moderate-income families up to code. The cost of the work paid for by the grant is passed on to the owner in the form of a deferred payment loan.
“It’s basically to address safety issues and bringing housing back up to building code standards,” Allan said. “We’re not renovating and putting on additions.”
There are currently about 50 households on the waiting list for the program, Allan said.
According to a statement released by the Baker administration, $894,110 was awarded to Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Peru, Plainfield, Westhampton and Worthington. The money will for repairs of 13 units of housing, child-care assistance, elder services and a food pantry.
Huntington, Middlefield and Chester were awarded $753,226 for infrastructure improvements to Pleasant Street, a senior center feasibility study and repairs to seven units of housing. The grant will also pay for senior services, adult education, a food pantry and domestic violence prevention services.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
