Title
a. Conduct a Public Hearing to take comments on a proposed Substantial Amendment to the Urban County FY 15-16 Action Plan for expenditure of CDBG funds;
b. Amend the Action Plan to reallocate funding in the amount of $142,242 for ADA improvements to the City of Gonzales’ Centennial Park to ADA improvements to the City of Gonzales’ community swimming pool path of travel project;.
c. Amend the Action Plan to forward fund up to $150,000 for the Chualar Park project from FY16-17 funding;
d. Authorize the Director of Economic Development to submit the Substantial Amendment to the Urban County FY 15-16 Action Plan to HUD; and
e. Authorize the Director of Economic Development to execute contracts, and other necessary and associated documents, to implement these allocations for Urban County projects, including making adjustments to accommodate minor variances in Program Income or project expenditures
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Conduct a Public Hearing to take comments on a proposed Substantial Amendment to the Urban County FY 15-16 Action Plan for expenditure of CDBG funds;
b. Amend the Action Plan to reallocate funding in the amount of $142,242 for ADA improvements to the City of Gonzales’ Centennial Park to ADA improvements to the City of Gonzales’ community swimming pool path of travel project;.
c. Amend the Action Plan to forward fund up to $150,000 for the Chualar Park project from FY16-17 funding;
d. Authorize the Director of Economic Development to submit the Substantial Amendment to the Urban County FY 15-16 Action Plan to HUD; and
e. Authorize the Director of Economic Development to execute contracts, and other necessary and associated documents, to implement these allocations for Urban County projects, including making adjustments to accommodate minor variances in Program Income or project expenditures.
SUMMARY:
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) qualified Monterey County and the Cities of Del Rey Oaks and Gonzales as an Urban County for entitlement purposes. The Monterey Urban County was awarded an allocation from HUD of $896,616 in CDBG funding for FY 15-16. Changes are recommended in regard to two Urban County projects. These changes require a Substantial Amendment to the Urban County FY 15-16 Action Plan previously submitted to HUD.
DISCUSSION:
Each year, HUD recipients are required to submit an Action Plan to HUD which includes approved funding recommendations for projects, services, and administration. To satisfy that requirement, a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) was issued December 5, 2014 for CDBG funds for FY 15-16. An application workshop for interested parties was held at the County Government Center on December 18, 2013. On January 13, 2015, the Board of Supervisors created a Standing Committee to review and recommend funding for County projects and services and appointed Supervisors Calcagno and Salinas to the Committee. The Standing Committee met on March 6, 2015 and made recommendations for funding. On April 7, 2015, the Board of Supervisors approved the Draft Action Plan for FY 15-16, including recommendations for projects and programs to be funded. After a 30-day period of public review, the Board approved the FY 15-16 Action Plan on May12, 2015. HUD subsequently approved it on June 30, 2015. The Action Plan can be found on the County’s website. A link to the approved Action Plan is provided in the Attachments list below.
It is now recommended that the Board of Supervisors hold a public hearing in regard to a Substantial Amendment to the FY 15-16 Action Plan based upon changes in funding availability and project needs since the Action Plan was approved. The purpose of the public hearing is to receive comments on the proposed Substantial Amendment. In the absence of evidence and testimony to the contrary, it is recommended that the Board of Supervisors take action on the recommendations regarding the Substantial Amendment. A final copy of the Substantial Amendment will be made available on each participating jurisdiction’s website, and a hard copy will be available at the Economic Development Department immediately thereafter.
Further, it is recommended that the Director of Economic Development be authorized to execute contracts, as well as other necessary and associated documents needed to implement these allocations, and to authorize minor adjustments to accommodate minor variances in expected Program Income or project expenditures.
The following recommendations were made by the Standing Committee at a meeting held on October 7, 2015:
1. Reallocate funding in the amount of $142,242 for ADA improvements to the Gonzales Centennial Park to ADA improvements for the Gonzales community swimming pool path of travel. Gonzales has requested a reallocation of their FY15-16 funds, previously approved in the amount of $142,242 for ADA improvements to be made to Centennial Park. Recent issues with the City-owned swimming pool require it to be closed until repairs can be made. The City is required by law to make ADA improvements to the pool’s path of travel at the same time that it undertakes repairs to the pool.
2. Forward fund up to $150,000 for the Chualar Park project from FY 16-17 Urban County funds .
The Chualar Community Park project consists of demolition of the current playing field, earth work and grading, installation of astro turf, fencing of the site, equipment purchase, and ADA improvements. The project’s current budget is $500,000 ($274,336 from the State’s Housing Related Parks Program award and $225,664 from the Urban County). Estimated project costs exceed the funding. There are increased costs due to drainage flows that were determined in the soils and civil engineering work undertaken to date and security issues requiring more gates for access. Also, still pending is the question of whether or not bathroom ADA improvements will be required by the State. In order to fully fund the project, up to an additional $150,000 is required to be forward funded out of FY 16/17 funding.
The Substantial Amendment as recommended above is attached hereto.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The City of Gonzales and the Chualar Unified School District concur in the requested Substantial Amendment. County Counsel has reviewed the Substantial Amendment as to form.
FINANCING:
The HUD CDBG grant is a three (3) year agreement which is funded annually. Funding in the amount of $856,820 was awarded for FY 13-14. The funding award for FY 14-15 was $865,067. The funding award for FY 15-16 is $896,616. On July 21, 2015, the Board of Supervisors approved submittal of necessary documents to HUD to requalify the Urban County to receive annual entitlement funding for an additional three years. If the County requalifies and complies with the grant, the County will continue to receive annual entitlement funding, subject to the federal budget process.
The grant has been included in the department’s baseline budget submissions for FY 2015-16 in its Appropriations Unit DEO003, Fund 013, Budget Unit 8200 (Community Development Grants). There is no impact to the General Fund.
Prepared by: ________________________________________________________________
Jane Royer Barr, Housing Program Manager, Ext. 5389
Approved by: ________________________________________________________________
David Spaur, CEcD, EDFP, Economic Development Director, Ext. 5387
Attachments:
Substantial Amendment to the Action Plan
Approved Action Plan: <http://www.in.co.monterey.ca.us/EconomicDevelopment/Housing%20Docs/5-12-15-Draft-Annual-Action-Plan-for-Fiscal-Year-2015-16.pdf>
(Attachments are on File with the Clerk of the Board)