A survey will soon be arriving in the post office boxes of Grand Marais residents, and response to it could determine whether a housing and commercial building rehab initiative worth $480,000 will be possible.
For the fourth year in a row, the Cook County/Grand Marais Economic Development Authority (EDA) will be applying for a Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Small City Development Program (SCDP) grant. The EDA will be requesting funds for rehabilitation of five homes and five businesses. To quality for the grant, however, 40 percent of the houses within a 20-block area must demonstrate a need for work on their houses and funding to do it.
Cook County Housing Administrator Nancy Grabko expects the EDA to request $335,000 in its grant application, but matches from other sources will be used as leverage to bring the total project amount to an expected $480,000.
According to Grabko, the EDA board “has been advised that due to significant changes in the manner in which SCDP 2012 applications will be scored that it is in the best interests of Lake and Cook County to submit separate applications for project funding for the upcoming SCDP application cycle.” In the past, the EDA got more points for collaborating with Lake County and submitting an application jointly.
The new funding criteria may make it difficult for small rural communities to quality for the grant since they must demonstrate significant need within a 20-block area. If not enough people respond to the survey and demonstrate a need for financial help, the grant application cannot be submitted.
Grabko said her office is working hard to submit the strongest grant application possible on behalf of Cook County.
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