Homewood committee backs joining Jefferson County bid for federal Safe Streets implementation funds

Homewood's committee voted to support Jefferson County’s bid for federal Safe Streets for All implementation funding and to ask that three Homewood projects be included in the county application.

City staff told the committee the Regional Planning Commission completed the required Safe Streets plan and that municipalities in Jefferson County are coordinating to seek implementation grants. “The funds are between 2 and a half million and 25,000,000,” a city speaker said, describing typical award sizes for these federal grants.

Homewood officials asked the county to include three projects on the application: Oxmoor Avenue sidewalk improvements, Valley Avenue (Claremont to the school) sidewalk work, and a sidewalk segment on Salter Road (Sylvia Drive to Broadway). Staff said the projects appeared on the federal “high-injury network,” a required screening list, and that the preliminary total cost estimate for the three projects is about $4,400,000. Committee discussion noted that if the projects were funded at the estimate in later years, Homewood’s local match (20%) would be about $925,000 and that final project costs and funding allocations would be established if the county’s grant application is successful.

Committee members approved a motion to forward a resolution supporting the county’s application and to authorize the mayor to send a supporting letter; the motion passed on the committee floor, recorded as the ayes having it.