Snohomish County staff told the Planning and Community Development Committee on June 3 that the county has been awarded a $5,000,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to support design and construction of a Food and Farming Center, and the county will seek approval from the full council at its June 11 consent agenda.

Ryan Hembry, council staff, said the county would authorize the County Executive to accept and execute grant agreement B24CPWA2257 with HUD and described the award as "one of several grants that are helping to support this project." Hembry also said a council briefing on the Food and Farming Center is being planned for the summer and that the federal grant is managed through HUD's online disaster recovery grant reporting system.

Committee members asked for confirmation about the HUD grant's security. A committee member asked, "do we feel that this is a very secure HUD grant?" Hembry replied, "Yeah, that's what I've heard." After no objections, Acting Committee Chair Lowe moved the item to the June 11 consent agenda.

The county did not vote on final acceptance at the meeting; the action was placement on the consent agenda for the full council to consider. A separate council briefing on the Food and Farming Center is planned this summer, where staff indicated they will provide additional project details.