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Wayne County committee approves submission of CDBG-DR action plan; public comment to continue
Summary
The committee approved the Wayne County 2025 Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) action plan for submission to HUD while staff said public comments will be accepted through June 16 and that substantial amendments will return to the commission for approval.
The Wayne County Economic Development Committee voted to approve the county—2025 CDBG-DR action plan for submission to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Staff said the submission is time-sensitive and that public comment will remain open through June 16 before finalizing project allocations.
Hassan Shaikh, director of economic development, and Betsy Palazzola, Community Development Division Director, presented the plan and the process. Palazzola described the action plan as a "blueprint" indicating types of projects identified for funding and said the county previously held a public hearing that gathered nearly an hour of public comment. "The deadline for that is June 20," Palazzola said of the HUD submission window, and staff said they would continue accepting comments on the public website through June 16.
Palazzola explained the somewhat unusual timeline: the county had previously approved an administrative action plan for $3.5 million from the larger allocation and was instructed by HUD to load documents into the federal system so the total in the system would not exceed an overall $70,000,000 allocation. She said the action plan being submitted is the full plan that includes the previously approved administrative amount. Palazzola and Shaikh said the CDBG-DR funds are tied to the county's 2023 storm event and that project eligibility must demonstrate a tie to that storm.
Staff described outreach efforts to all 43 local jurisdictions and said recent public comments highlighted mitigation needs such as drainage and flood-related infrastructure. Palazzola said the county will publish a standalone document responding to public comments and will post that alongside the action plan on the project website, engage.waynecountymi.gov/cdbgdr-grant.
Commission counsel Felicia Johnson asked staff to clarify references to "changes" and whether the county would edit the plan after commission approval. Palazzola and Shaikh responded that clerical edits and a public-comments response document would be posted and that any future "substantial amendments"—defined by staff as changes greater than 10% of an award, adding or deleting activities, or materially changing eligibility—would be returned to the full commission and to HUD. Non-substantial amendments, such as minor dollar shifts or clerical clarifications, will be posted on the project website but need not come back to the commission, Palazzola said.
The committee moved and supported the action plan and recorded a voice vote of "Aye." Staff said they would continue collecting public input and post the recorded public hearing and presentation to the CDBG-DR project webpage.
