Dateline: April 3, 2008

CEDC to hold public hearing on grants

The Clarendon Economic Development Corporation Board will hold a public hearing next Monday, April 7, to get feedback on a plan to help downtown merchants fix up their storefronts.

The Façade Grant Program as it is proposed would provide fifty-fifty matching grants up to a maximum of $2,000 per project for properties on a three-block stretch of Kearney Street between First and Fourth Streets.

For example, if the total of a project costs $1,500, the CEDC would contribute a maximum of $750. A $4,000 project would be eligible for the maximum of $2,000, and any projects costing more than $4,000 would only be eligible for the maximum of $2,000 of CEDC funds.

The funds will be paid to successful applicants when invoices are submitted for the completed project.

Projects eligible for consideration could be anything from a simple coat of paint to new signage to a complete rehabilitation of a storefront.

Each applicant would have to meet certain criteria and submit detailed plans for their project for the CEDC board’s approval, and any change in the plans would have to be approved by the board.

For more information, the public is encouraged to attend the hearing next Monday at 7 p.m. in the Board Room of City Hall.