Proposed Expenditures of Community Development Block Grant Funding Received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - Substantial Amendment of 2008 Action Plan for Housing & Community Development

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The city of Burlington is receiving $238,821 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) to carry out, on an expedited basis, eligible activities under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. On May 5, 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) published a June 5, 2009, deadline to submit a plan for spending this money and issued the following guidance:

Funding available under the Recovery Act has clear purposes – to stimulate the economy through measures that modernize the Nation’s infrastructure, improve energy efficiency, and expand educational opportunities and access to health care. . . . The Department desires that CDBG-R grantees carefully evaluate proposed projects for consistency with the overarching goals of the Recovery Act, especially the above-cited purposes. To this extent, HUD strongly urges grantees to use CDBG-R funds for hard development costs associated with infrastructure activities that provide basic services to residents or activities that promote energy efficiency and conservation through rehabilitation or retrofitting of existing buildings. While the full range of CDBG activities is available to grantees, the Department strongly suggests that grantees incorporate consideration of the public perception of the intent of the Recovery Act in identifying and selecting projects for CDBG-R funding. . . .

While grantees have the full range of CDBG eligible activities at their disposal for CDBG-R, Congress clearly intends that CDBG-R funds should primarily be invested in economic development, housing, infrastructure and other public facilities activities that will quickly spur further economic investment, increased energy efficiency, and job creation or retention. In selecting activities for CDBG-R funding, grantees should keep in mind that some eligible activities under the Housing and Community Development Act are unlikely to substantively address the intent of the Recovery Act.

The plan for spending the CDBG-R funding is a “substantial amendment” to the city’s 2008 CDBG Action Plan. To meet the tight turnaround time, HUD is shortening the minimum time for citizen comments from 30 to 7 calendar days. Substantial amendment materials must be posted online as the materials are developed, published, and submitted to HUD. The city’s local rules require that substantial amendments must be authorized by the Mayor and the Board of Finance. The Finance Board considered and approved the proposed expenditure of CDBG-R funding at its May 21, 2009, meeting.

The following Substantial Amendment was submitted to HUD on June 2, 2009.  All documents are in pdf format.  To open, view and/or print these items, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.  If you do not have a current copy of this free software, you can download it now.  If you need any of the documents in alternative formats, please call 865-7144.

SF 424
Submission Template and Checklist (narrative description of proposed activities and a summary of public comments)
Certifications
Exhibit A:  Activity Data Spreadsheet
Exhibit B:  Web Notice
 

For more information, contact:

Margaret Bozik, Assistant Director for Management, Planning & Communications
802·865·7171
mbozik@ci.burlington.vt.us

Page last updated August 17, 2010