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Auburn council creates Tenant Improvement Economic Assistance Grant, sets $40,000 cap for first year
Summary
The Auburn City Council established a tenant-improvement grant program using CDBG funds, approving a $40,000-per-award cap for the initial year and directing staff to return in one year to reassess funding and sustainability.
The Auburn City Council on a unanimous vote approved a Tenant Improvement Economic Assistance Grant program aimed at helping local businesses with tenant improvement costs.
Councilwoman Dowden Calvio said she supported the idea of a sustainable program and raised questions about award size and program longevity. “I originally thought about perhaps having a 0 interest loan… I really want a sustainable program so that we can benefit as many businesses as possible,” Dowden Calvio said. Jonathan Wright, the city’s economic development director, said the program is designed to match significant private investment and is intended for projects that already have a tenant-improvement permit in process.
Wright told the council the program’s eligibility includes a requirement that applicants be in business for three years and that the tenant-improvement permit be at least $100,000: “It has to be 3 years. They have to have a tenant improvement permit already in process that is at least a value of a $100,000 or more.” Wright said the grant is intended to pair municipal CDBG money with projects demonstrating substantial private investment and that the proposed award amounts reflected needs staff found in conversations with local developers.
Council members discussed program size and reach. Dowden Calvio and others said the city’s available pool of defederalized CDBG funds is modest — she described the fund as “under $350,000” in total — and expressed a preference for keeping the program sustainable so funds can be reused. Several council members supported the $40,000 maximum award for the first year with a direction to reassess after one year to determine whether to increase or otherwise change the program.
By motion, the council approved establishing the Tenant Improvement Economic Assistance Grant program, authorized the city manager to administer and expand funds in accordance with program guidelines, and directed staff to return to council in one year for reassessment.
The program’s initial parameters approved by the council include a $40,000 maximum award for the first year and eligibility criteria requiring at least three years in business and a tenant-improvement permit valued at $100,000 or more. The council did not adopt additional program rules beyond those discussed; staff will prepare implementing guidelines and application materials and return with a one‑year status report on program use and available funds.
