$2.5 Million Sought in Regional Planning

The Iowa City Council gave its stamp of approval on a $2.5 million grant to develop a regional housing, land use and transportation plan.

The resolution, which passed unanimously Tuesday night, requested a letter of support and staff time as part of the application process for a federal Sustainable Communities Planning grant, led by the Housing and Urban Development Administration, with Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation input.

“I became interested in the HUD stable communities grant over a year ago,” said Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization Chair Linda Langston in her address to the city council.

Langston said Cedar Rapids, Linn County and the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation approached East Central Iowa Council of Governments to be the lead applicant and have already hired a joint grant writer.

“What they are vitally interested in is that within your community, can you work cooperatively with multiple groups and agencies, so our effort right now includes a great deal of the ECICOG (East Central Iowa Council of Governments) area.”

Required support from participating local government entities like Iowa City and the Johnson County MPO includes a 20 percent local match.

“What we are seeking tonight is a letter of support, to apply for $2.5 million dollars, which would come over the course of three years,” said Langston, also a member of the Linn County Board of Supervisors. “There is no required cash match. All of the match can be in-kind.”

Langston said they have already reached out to have “significant support” from the Iowa Flood Center and the Corridor Conservation Alliance, led by Trees Forever President Shannon Ramsay.

When Iowa City Councilor Regenia Bailey pressed for more details on where the funding would go specifically, Langston said affordable housing was a “key and significant issue” in the planning efforts, along with economic development, air and water quality.

The focus of the application is to utilize existing plans and identify regional issues, as opposed to local, and identify possible federal funding avenues for those regional projects.

Polk County applied last year and was awarded $2.2 million for the same type of Sustainable Communities Planning grant.

Langston added this grant is the “gatekeeper” to other federal grants for the region.

JCMPO Transportation Planner John Yapp said the grant effort would be a way to bring in more substantive planning.

“I do not believe this will supplant any current (local) efforts, rather the intent is to provide a regional framework and capitalize on the relationships that we have with Linn County and the surrounding counties,” he said.

Mayor Matt Hayek said the process of applying for the grant alone will help foster much-needed regional relationships.

“This could be a useful exercise for the entire corridor,” Hayek said. “We have struggled to get traction on a regional basis.”