Millerton zeros in on block grant application idea

MILLERTON — Sidewalks. It all came down to sidewalks. That was the end result of the Village Board’s public hearing on recommendations for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application ideas at its meeting Aug. 17.

“All the department heads and all of the board members were unanimous on agreeing to sidewalks,� Mayor John Scutieri said following the hearing.

One community member suggested using the grant money for library projects, but the board agreed that because the village supports the library through town taxes, sidewalk repairs and replacements were the way to go.

In fact, the board decided that at its next meeting, set for Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m. at Village Hall,  it might make a field trip. Along with the village’s engineers, who plan to attend, and Sidewalk Committee members Debbie Middlebrook and Marty Markonic, the board will walk the village streets in search of sidewalks in the worst shape. Those sidewalks will then be listed in the grant application to give specificity to the request, which the mayor said usually wins the applicant more points when trying to garner grant dollars.

“Last year we applied for sidewalks but were not real specific and did not offer to take out a BAN (Bond Anticipation Note), and we had two block grants that were open and had no conclusion as to when they would be completed,� Scutieri said. “I had an idea we would be turned down. This year I think we will be looked at more favorably.�

That’s because not only is the village being specific about which sidewalks need the most help (a small section on the eastern most part of Main Street from Central Avenue to the light, across from the new Salisbury Bank & Trust site and around that corner, as well as around the square to Park Street near Astor Head Start and Central Avenue, where it’s heavily residential, in addition to a section of Barton Street that gets a tremendous amount of foot traffic where the mayor is hoping the walkway will get replaced), it also is planning on taking out a BAN for $30,000 to $50,000 to go along with whatever the county is willing to pay through the CDBG.

Block grants award a maximum of $150,000 annually per municipality to those that get chosen by the county. In order to be awarded a block grant municipalities must qualify by choosing projects that rank high on the county’s priority list. For many years, including for 2010, the first priority is affordable housing. Number two on that list is infrastructure; sidewalks fall into the infrastructure category.

“I think the project has a good chance,� Scutieri said. “Everything we’re trying to do I think will help. And we’re making the sidewalks handicapped accessible, which will be a huge help. Right now, none are handicapped accessible, they all have curbs that you have to step up on. That’s another criteria that’s going to make the project a bit more favorable to the county — we’re doing everything we can to make it more favorable.�

Currently the village has two block grants in progress, which is part of why the mayor said it probably did not get awarded a grant last year. It has a 2005 grant to build a parking area on South Center Street; it also has a 2008 grant to complete a water main connection to tie Maple Avenue, Fish Street and Mill Street together. He said those two projects are “coming together at once,� and should be completed soon.

That’s good news, because the village is going to need as much financial assistance as it can get to complete the estimated 4,000 linear feet of sidewalk work, which may cost between $175,000 to $200,000. Most of the proposed work will likely be on village streets excluding Main Street, as Scutieri said it’s nearly twice as expensive to work on sidewalks along Main Street than on other roads.

“The sidewalks are much heavier, you have to use a heavier type of concrete in those applications, you have to cut back into the buildings, they have to be cut and removed, the labor is much more intensive,� he said. “I would say per linear foot it’s twice as much to replace sidewalks in front of a business on Main Street than in front of a home on a residential street. It’s a huge difference. That’s why you might notice a lot of sidewalks on Main Street we patch if we can.�

As far as getting public support on the board’s decision to pursue sidewalks for its block grant application, the mayor said he felt pretty confident.

“I think that everybody knows we need sidewalks done desperately,� he said. “And we’re doing our best.�