With the $3 million in appropriations from the state legislature secured, the Columbus Redevelopment Authority is now seeking another $3 million in grants to complete infrastructure work in Burns Bottom.

CRA has applied for two federal grants totaling $3 million. Approval would come through Congress in its 2024 fiscal year appropriations bill.

Those grants are $2.5 million from the State and Tribal Assistance Grants program, facilitated by the Environmental Protection Agency, which would be used for water and sewer infrastructure. The other would come from the Economic Development Initiative for $530,000, which is facilitated by the Congressional Grants Division of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and used for drainage work, CRA board member Jason Spears said.

CRA president Marthalie Porter said the board applied for the grants in March after compiling information about the redevelopment area and the infrastructure needed before the project can move forward.

“We are pleased to be applying for grants on the federal level,” Porter said. “It has the potential to help us with this current project and then also in future projects as well. We’re trying to cover all the areas and bases, not just depend on any one funding source.”

Spears said the process is now in the hands of the federal government, and the board will hear back about whether they have been selected to receive those grants later this year. Exact award amounts will be confirmed after that.

“They are doing their vetting process and priority of scheduling and ranking those different projects,” Spears said.

Marty Fuller, a senior consultant with Cornerstone Government Affairs, a government consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., assisted the CRA with applications to secure the remaining $3 million needed for the project.

In the meantime, the CRA is waiting to access the $3 million it was slated to receive from the City of Columbus via the state’s annual appropriations bill, which Gov. Tate Reeves will sign on April 22, Porter said.

Once the money is in the bank, CRA will use it to start on $6 million worth of infrastructure work that will include improvements to water and sewer lines, the installation of broadband and road work, and even moving an entire sewer line on the north side of Seventh Avenue North to an undecided portion of the project area to potentially clear up more parcels for development, Porter said.

In February 2022, the CRA asked for $1 million from its American Recovery Plan Act money for a portion of the infrastructure work. The city denied that request, but the legislative appropriation followed.

If the CRA does not obtain the $3 million worth of grants, it will complete as much of the work as possible and consider bringing in developers to help finish the remainder, Porter said.

“That’s something that we could look at trying to see if we could work it that way,” she said. “That would give us two ways to still look at it. We could also try to continue seeking other funding. We’re trying to keep our options open and shake as many trees as we can.”

The CRA was established in 2015 to target redevelopment in the city’s urban renewal zone, which includes Burns Bottom. The city council in 2017 approved issuing $3.2 million in bonds to CRA for land acquisition, site prep and marketing in Burns Bottom – located in a five-block area east of Lowndes County Soccer Complex between Third and Fourth Street North and Second and Seventh Avenue North.

The goal was to convert long-blighted properties into higher-value multi-use developments that include residential and commercial.

It spent $2.8 million of those bonds to purchase 71 parcels in the project area, as well as demolish structures on any of those lots and complete dirt work and site preparation for prospective developers.

There are currently two parcels left unpurchased within the project area, and the board has yet to reach an agreement with those parcel owners. It is currently operating under the assumption that those won’t be an issue for developers.

“It’s just another piece of the puzzle that we’re trying to put together,” Porter said. “But I don’t think it’s causing a big problem. We have not reached any agreement with them yet, but we have been speaking to those residents.”

With the $311,720 the board has left of the bond money, it will continue site preparation work, such as cleaning out vegetation, dirt work and demolishing structures.