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Monterey County outlines CDBG opportunities for Marina as city joins urban county program
Summary
A Monterey County housing program manager briefed the Marina City Council on Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) basics, potential eligible activities, application timing and approximate funding the city might expect as part of the county urban-county arrangement.
County staff and the council discussed potential uses of Community Development Block Grant funds available to Marina through the Monterey County urban-county program, including infrastructure, public facilities, fair housing services and certain public services.
Darby Marshall, Monterey County housing program manager, presented CDBG basics and eligibility, noting the program’s national objectives: principally benefitting low- and moderate-income persons, addressing blight and urgent needs. Marshall described the county’s role in preparing consolidated plans, an annual action plan, and a December–January notice-of-funding-availability cycle for nonprofits and eligible applicants. She gave examples of prior local CDBG-funded projects such as ADA bus-stop improvements (proposed by MST), water-system connections, fire equipment and nonprofit public services (Meals on Wheels, food banks and legal services for seniors).
Council members asked how much Marina might receive through the three-year joint-powers agreement, and Marshall summarized allocation assumptions, administrative and public-service statutory caps and an example figure the county used to model three years of funding. The county staff said Marina’s initial allocation (averaged across the joint program) would likely be in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars annually (modeling differences based on HUD funding levels and the joint-powers formula). Marshall said she prefers single-year allocations for capital projects so larger one-year sums are more useful for capital work.
Marshall warned that some CDBG activities (for example, certain economic development and some housing programs) can be administratively and financially intensive and that Davis-Bacon and prevailing-wage rules attach to federally funded construction projects. She offered to work with city staff and the economic development arm (WEDO) to refine proposals and said the county’s fair-housing contractor is Eden Council for Hope and Opportunity.
Ending: Council members thanked county staff; no final direction was requested at this meeting — the presentation was offered to inform the council ahead of budget discussions and possible future project selections.
