Redevelopment authority to consider $500,000 grant application
The Uniontown Redevelopment Authority will consider on Friday submitting an application for a $500,000 state housing development grant that would be used to acquire property to build 25 homes in the North Gallatin Avenue area. The authority will conduct a public hearing on the application at 11:30 a.m. Friday and then consider a resolution needed to submit the application at a meeting immediately following the hearing.
The $500,000 would come from the Department of Community and Economic Development’s Core Communities Housing Program and it would be used in combination with two other programs to revitalize the residential neighborhood, said Mark Yauger, authority director.
“If we’re successful, this money will be used in conjunction with the (DCED’s) Elm Street Program and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Association’s Home Ownership Choice Program,” Yauger said.
He said the Core Communities grant would be used to buy 25 vacant and blighted properties in an area on the west side of North Gallatin Avenue. The area’s boundaries are North Gallatin Avenue, Penn Street, Beeson Boulevard and Kerr Street.
Community Action of Fayette County owns some of those properties and would be a partner in the project, Yauger said.
If the Core Communities grant were approved, Threshold Housing Development Inc. of Uniontown would apply to the PHFA for a construction grant through its Home Ownership Choice Program, he said.
The homes would be single-family houses and townhouses or duplexes. They would be offered for sale to middle-income people, he said.
The Elm Street Program and the grassroots Gallatin Avenue Concerned Citizens would also have roles in the project.
The GACC worked with the authority and Uniontown City Council on the $250,000 Elm Street application.
If it were approved, the neighborhood would receive an Elm Street designation and funding for streetscape improvements, housing rehabilitation, residential fa?ade renovations, vacant and blighted property acquisition and hiring an Elm Street manager.
“We feel real confident that we’ll be designated and Elm Street community,” Yauger said.
The Elm Street manager would work with the GACC to promote and improve the neighborhood.
Winning an Elm Street grant would make the GACC eligible to apply for state residential re-investment grants annually for five years, Yauger said.
He noted that the Elm Street manager should not be confused with a Main Street manager who would be hired if the Uniontown Downtown Business District Authority’s application to the DCED’s Main Street Program would be approved. The Main Street manager would focus on improving the city’s business district.
Yauger said the DCED regulations prohibit the same person from having both managers’ jobs.
He said the Core Communities grant program is competitive and he didn’t know when the grant winners would be announced. The application is due Oct. 31.
Yauger also said city Councilmen Bob Cerjanec and Gary Crozier deserve credit for providing assistance and support for all the grant applications.