MONTGOMERY— Gov. Robert Bentley has awarded Community Development Block Grants totaling $1.5 million to complete water and sewer improvement projects in DeKalb, Jackson and Madison counties.
The town of Sylvania will use a $326,000 grant and city of Fort Payne will use a $450,000 grant to complete sewer repairs. The town of Gurley and the Jackson County Commission will receive $350,000 grants to make water system improvements.
“Through the Community Development Block Grant program, communities are able to complete vital projects that local governments would otherwise be unable to afford,” Bentley said. “I am pleased to work with these local leaders on projects that will upgrade the services available to residents.”
The grant recipients and their projects are as follows:
DeKalb County
Sylvania will overhaul the portion of the town’s sewer system in Meadowbrook Mobile Home Park. Town officials say the system was poorly designed by a private developer in the 1980s, causing frequent backups and overflows. The project will replace more than 5,500 feet of sewer pipe with larger PVC lines and associated equipment. The town is contributing $32,600 toward the project.
Fort Payne will rehabilitate and repair cracked and brittle clay sewer lines in a nine-block area on the north side of the city that encompasses the area west of Grand Avenue between 14th and 22 streets NW. The city will inspect and clean each section of sewer line and the manholes to determine if it needs new lining or if it must be totally replaced. The city is committing $100,000 in cash and in-kind services to complete the project.
Jackson County
The Jackson County Commission will extend public water service to 59 households in the Wanville community, north of Scottsboro on US Highway 72. This is the first phase of a project to provide reliable, clean water to more than 200 homes in the community where residents have relied on private wells, many of which have tested positive for potentially harmful bacteria. The county will install 20,800 feet of water lines and 13 fire hydrants to increase fire protection. The Jackson County Water Authority is contributing $100,000 toward the project.
Madison County
Gurley will replace a section of aging concrete water pipes with PVC pipes. Town officials say the concrete pipes are very leaky and contain asbestos which poses a health danger if workers are required to cut the pipes. The old lines will be left in place and larger, safer PVC pipes will be installed. The city is contributing $75,300 in cash and in-kind services to the project.
The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the awards from funds made available to the state by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In addition to distributing CDBG funding once a year to Alabama cities and counties on a competitive basis, ADECA holds some funding in reserve to assist local governments with critical-need projects and projects that will assist communities in infrastructure improvements needed for new or expanding industries to provide additional jobs. For an overview of the CDBG program in Alabama, see this video: https://youtu.be/GL51Tk73my0.
ADECA manages a range of programs that support law enforcement, economic development, recreation, energy conservation and water resource management.
Contact: Mike Presley, Larry Childers