City planning staff told the Montpelier Planning Commission they have filed five pre-applications for Community Development Block Grant—Disaster Recovery (CDBG‑DR) funds and described the scope of each project, their funding context and next steps.

"These have been in the news quite a bit," staff said of CDBG‑DR; staff described the state allocation as "$68,000,000" overall and said roughly "$48,000,000" of that is targeted for Washington County. "We put in as a city, as municipality, we put in 5 applications totaling about $18,000,000," staff said.

Staff described the five pre‑applications as:
- Country Club Road infrastructure: funds to extend utilities and other infrastructure to make a site developable for resilient housing. Staff said the housing developer has not yet been selected and that the application process will require further discussion with the state on how to present a funding proposal without a developer tied to the application.
- Home Farm Way: engineering work already has some funding; the project includes removal of about "21,000 cubic yards of fill" and removal of the Bailey Dam upstream of the Bailey bridge. Staff said the federal Hazard Mitigation Program is covering 80 percent of mitigation-eligible work and the state hoped to use CDBG‑DR for the remainder.
- Bailey Dam removal: another application covering the dam near Main Street "next to Shaw's," which the state suggested could be funded through disaster recovery rather than hazard mitigation.
- Water Resource Recovery Facility (Dog River Road sewer plant): staff described the plant as a high-value asset—"probably $80 to $100,000,000," in staff words—and said Dog River Road sits about one inch below the 100‑year floodplain. Staff explained an elevation and bypass project of roughly "$2,000,000 or so" could protect the plant by elevating the road and installing bypasses on influent and effluent pipes.
- Elm Street culverts: three undersized culverts currently described as about "7 and a half feet wide by 6 feet high" would be replaced with structures about "15 foot wide, 6 foot high" to reduce risk that a single culvert failure would block the route and prevent mutual aid access.

Staff said these were pre‑applications and that state reviewers may reject or prioritize individual projects. To improve the city’s chances, staff requested that the City Council authorize hiring a professional grant writer and said the applications are due September 30.

Staff also described other Country Club Road updates: Turtle Island (child care) has a lease or contract in place and aims to open around Labor Day; a proposed recreation hub remains under negotiation and has outstanding questions about leasing and facility construction.

On regional approval for the city plan, staff said the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CBRPC) full board asked for a transcribed record of a subcommittee public hearing before taking a final regional-approval vote. Staff said their internal review found no regional compliance issues but expected opponents to appear at the upcoming regional meeting and that commission members should consider attending to show local support.