Glens Falls holds public hearing on CDBG funding, seeks input for 2025 action plan

Glens Falls Common Council convened a public hearing Tuesday, April 22, to review 2024 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) projects and solicit public comment for the 5-year consolidated plan and the 2025 annual action plan, Community Development Director Patrick Dowd said.

Dowd told the council that 2024 marked the 50th year Glens Falls received federal CDBG funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and that HUD has invested $22,747,973.09 in the city over that period. He said the city spent $472,105.12 of HUD funds in 2024 on housing-rehabilitation programs, including emergency rehabilitation, and that the emergency rehab program had exhausted its funds.

Dowd said staff proposes using an increased CDBG allocation in 2025 — roughly $150,000 to $200,000 — for infrastructure upgrades targeted to newly eligible census-tract areas, plus funding for administration and nonprofit partners that deliver services to low- and moderate-income residents. He listed 11 local nonprofit partners included in the packet: Adirondack Vet's House, Tri-County Literacy, Greater Glens Falls Senior Citizens Center and the Conklin Center, Family Service Association, Warren/Hamilton County Community Action Agency, Wade House, Glens Falls Family YMCA, Glens Falls Recreation Program, Glens Falls Area Youth Center, and the Glens Falls City School District Backpack Program. Dowd said the backpack program serves 78 children, roughly 10% of the school district’s student population.

Among the locally proposed infrastructure priorities Dowd presented were Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) transitions and sidewalk improvements near Montcon Playground; ADA transitions and sidewalks on Fulton and May streets; sidewalk and ADA work along Maple and Platt streets; and replacement or upgrades of detectable warning plates in the city roundabout (costs for those items were not yet available). Dowd said those locations are being prioritized using the city’s sidewalk inventory and the newly adopted CDBG-eligible census-tract map that took effect Aug. 1 of the prior year.

Dowd stressed that the yellow areas on the new map are the only places where HUD low- and moderate-income area–benefit funds can be used going forward and noted the new map covers a significantly smaller area because average incomes there have risen. He told council members staff will provide clearer maps showing both the old ward-based descriptions and the new census-tract boundaries so council members and residents can see which blocks are eligible under the CDBG rules.

Several council members asked for more detail about past CDBG spending by neighborhood and how CDBG allocations compare with other city infrastructure funding. Dowd said he would work with DPW staff (Jeremy) to produce maps and a spending breakdown for council. When asked whether CDBG funding is guaranteed in future years, Dowd said the city has been told its allocation for the coming program year (beginning Aug. 1) is included in federal appropriations, but HUD cannot promise funding in subsequent years; staff are planning based on the allocation they were told would be available.

The public-hearing portion closed after council discussion and requests for follow-up information; Dowd said he would email the maps and respond to council requests about eligibility and prior-year spending.