Waukesha County CDBG 2011 Recommendations

Waukesha County has announced a public hearing for the 2011 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) recommendations.  Unfortunately, I cannot find a link to it online.  HUD funds the CDBG program which allocates money to entitlement communities for use to meet their needs.  Communities generally are given a lot of flexibility in how they use the money.

CDBG funds may be used for activities which include, but are not limited to:

• acquisition of real property;
• relocation and demolition;
• rehabilitation of residential and non-residential structures;
• construction of public facilities and improvements, such as water and sewer facilities, streets, neighborhood centers, and the conversion of school buildings for eligible purposes;
• public services, within certain limits;
• activities relating to energy conservation and renewable energy resources; and
• provision of assistance to profit-motivated businesses to carry out economic development and job creation/retention activities.

Any decision that Waukesha County makes on CDBG recommendations have to follow the Consolidated Plan.
 
This year's funding recommendations is anticipated to cover $1.6 million in grants, ranging from $2,942 for Dousman Village  for "Public Facilities" to $288,000 to Waukesha County for "Administration." 
 
Without knowing the details of the applications, I cannot really comment, but offhand, I'd say the most weak recommendation is $21,289 to Oconomowoc for "Economic Development."
 
Oconomowoc is the city that created the Pabst Farms and didn't include any affordable housing in the development.  According to HUD, each activity must meet one of the following national objectives for the program: benefit low- and moderate-income persons, prevention or elimination of slums or blight, or address community development needs having a particular urgency because existing conditions pose a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community for which other funding is not available.
 
Offhand, without seeing the proposals, I'd be hard-pressed to say how Oconomowoc would qualify for this.  I'm sure there were other applications that would meet those goals in a better way.

Update:  The Public Hearing is on September 15th at 3 PM at Waukesha County Administration Center at 515 W. Moreland Blvd, Room 355-59 in Waukesha.  For more information, contact Glen Lewinski, Community Development Coordinator.  Requests for accessibility accommodations have to be made at least 48 hours prior to the meeting.