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Town of Oakland seeks $60,000 ARC planning grant for Water Street riverfront revitalization
Summary
The town of Oakland, working with Community Action, requested $60,000 for planning and design of a Water Street revitalization project to provide river access, sidewalk and streetscape improvements, exterior renovation of the Geismond Hotel apartments, and designs for workforce housing on vacant lots owned by Community Action.
A representative of the Town of Oakland asked the Garrett County commissioners for $60,000 in Appalachian Regional Commission planning funds to support a Water Street revitalization project.
The presenter said the money would pay for design and planning for a park on an Oakland-owned vacant lot along the Youghiogheny River to provide public river access and fishing, sidewalk restoration, streetscaping for the neighborhood, exterior renovation design for the Geismond Hotel (owned by Community Action) and conceptual plans for new workforce housing on Community Action–owned lots.
Why it matters: project proponents said the plan would restore public access to the Yough River and support neighborhood revitalization and workforce housing. The request is one of several ARC-area applications the county will rank for regional consideration.
Discussion and next steps: commissioners received the presentation and were told the county must submit a ranked list of ARC project requests to the Tri-County Council of Western Maryland by May 16; regional ranking will determine which projects are eligible for ARC funding. No funding award or county-level approval was made during the meeting.
Background: the presentation emphasized design and planning only; construction or capital implementation funding would be a separate step if the project advances through the ARC process.
