Committee to place Bangor Housing EPA climate-justice grant with $50,000 Public Works subaward on next agenda

The Infrastructure Committee agreed to put a Bangor Housing application for an EPA environmental and climate justice community change grant on the committee’s next agenda after hearing that Public Works was listed as a potential $50,000 subawardee to support a tree nursery and the city compost program.

Aaron Hootery, Public Works, told the committee Bangor Housing (referred to in the record also as Niagara Housing) requested that Public Works be listed as a $50,000 subawardee to supply street trees and soil amendment for a multifamily housing project on Sunset Avenue. Hootery said the funds would support nursery build-out and compost operations, including equipment such as a finer screen to remove trash from compost, and help provide nursery-grown stock for planting in boulevard beds.

Staff recommendation and committee action: "Staff does recommend that the infrastructure committee approve the fact that we were already listed as a subcommittee on the... grant application and, with a potential award of $50,000 should they be approved for that grant," Hootery said. Committee members moved and seconded to consider the item; one committee member registered an objection during the motion and the item was placed on next week’s agenda for formal consideration.

Program details and capacity: Hootery said a $10,000 botanical budget this year funded roughly 15 planted trees and that $50,000 could be used to expand the nursery and support staged purchases of tree stock from bare-root sizes up through larger container sizes. Exact tree counts and a detailed budget were not specified during the meeting.

Outcome recorded in the meeting: referral to the next week's agenda for formal consideration; a committee member stated an objection during the motion record. No formal vote on awarding or accepting funds was taken at the Infrastructure Committee meeting.