Council raises guardrails, approves higher maximums for downtown facade-improvement grants

The Belton City Council on Jan. 14 approved an amendment to the downtown Facade Improvement Grant (FIG) program that raises the maximum grant amount per project while postponing a proposed expansion of the programs geographic boundary and a formalized list of ineligible business types.

Under the change the council approved at the meeting, the proposed maximum grant structure (as discussed by staff and the Beautification subcommittee) will be increased to allow up to $25,000 for a primary facade and up to $20,000 across secondary facades, for a maximum grant of $45,000 per project. The councils motion limited the change to monetary amounts only and left the existing eligible-area boundary and the draft list of ineligible business types in the ordinance unchanged for further review.

Staff confirmed grants are reimbursable: "These are reimbursable. Perfect. So you spend the money and then you just submit your invoices and we pay you back," a staff presenter said at the meeting. Councilmembers pressed for clearer, objective criteria if staff would exclude business categories (for example, vape shops, payday lenders, tattoo parlors) and discussed safeguards such as deed restrictions or conditional covenants to prevent a renovated facade from later housing a use the council would not want to subsidize.

The council voted unanimously to raise the maximum amounts and leave the other elements for later policy review. Members and staff agreed to track interest outside the current downtown boundary and to workshop eligibility and geographic expansion in a future meeting before altering the programs area or use restrictions.