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Leon County holds first public hearing on state CDBG round; task force recommends Fort Braden Community Center
Summary
At a first public hearing required by the state, county staff outlined a competitive Florida Small City CDBG opportunity and said a local task force recommended applying for funds to renovate the Fort Braden Community Center. A second hearing and formal consideration will be scheduled for April 8.
Leon County commissioners held the first of two required public hearings on a Florida Small City Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) opportunity, with staff reporting a task force recommended the Fort Braden Community Center as the county's most competitive project.
County Administrator (unnamed in the transcript) said the hearing is “the first public hearing” and that the board may not take action at this meeting; staff will return at a second public hearing with a draft application and a recommendation for formal consideration.
Shinkton Lamy, who led the staff presentation, explained the CDBG program and the state's competitive Small City process: “Community Development Block Grant or CDBG is administered by HUD to invest in projects that improve the quality of life and economic opportunities for low to moderate income households.” Lamy told commissioners the application window opened March 5 and closes May 2, and that Florida Commerce recently announced $40,000,000 in available CDBG funds.
Lamy noted Leon County is a “non‑entitlement” community for CDBG purposes (counties with fewer than 200,000 people are non‑entitlement) and said the county can apply to the state for grants in four categories that must benefit low‑ and moderate‑income households: housing rehabilitation, neighborhood revitalization, commercial revitalization and economic development. He said the county was recently awarded $750,000 for a housing rehabilitation program and that the county previously received $3,600,000 in the neighborhood revitalization category for improvements to the Miccosukee community center.
According to Lamy, Florida Commerce is allowing non‑entitlement governments to apply in this round even if they were recent awardees, and — unlike some past rounds — there is “no maximum funding cap this round,” which staff said could allow the county to request more than prior awards. Lamy also explained the scoring process and said the county's CDBG citizen advisory task force met before the first public hearing to maximize competitive points; the task force recommended Fort Braden Community Center improvements.
Because this was the first of two required hearings, Lamy told the board it could not take action tonight on the task force recommendation. He said the second public hearing — when the board can consider the task force recommendation and a draft application — was recommended for April 8 at 6 p.m.
Commissioners used the public Q&A time to raise local needs related to roads and utilities. Commissioner Proctor asked whether CDBG could support fire hydrants along Crawfordville Road; staff replied that the county may only submit one application under the state program and that the task force had recommended Fort Braden as the single competitive project for this round. No formal county action on the grant application was taken at the hearing.
The county's presentation referenced federal and state programs and rules: HUD administers the national CDBG program, and the hearing addressed state requirements under the Florida administrative code and related guidance from Florida Commerce.
Next steps: staff will collect citizen input gathered during this hearing, prepare the draft application and bring the matter back for a second public hearing and formal board consideration on April 8.
