Region 9 and MPO brief commission on Herald Drive, federal grant push and economic tools
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Summary
Region 9 and the Hagerstown MPO updated the commission on a BUILD grant submission for Herald Drive, a WDA water/sewer application, and new economic‑modeling tools Region 9 will use to support funding requests.
Rachel Miller, executive director of Region 9, and Matt Monnax, executive director of the Hagerstown Eastern Panhandle Metropolitan Planning Organization, gave consecutive updates on regional infrastructure projects and funding sources.
Miller said Region 9 submitted a WDA application for water and sewer on the west side of I‑81 and planned to discuss the project with the governor; she described an application for structural remediation of the former Insurgia site and said March 2 is the next project-review date for the Region 9 board. Miller said the region has used outside consulting for grant-writing and is seeking a $100,000 direct allocation to retain that capacity; she also announced that the Eastern West Virginia Economic Alliance paid for a three‑year InPlan economic‑modeling software subscription for Region 9 to run feasibility and impact analyses.
Monnax said the Herald Drive BUILD grant submission was imminent. He noted the federal BUILD maximum is $25,000,000 and initial estimates were near the cap, but later state guidance put the project estimate near $32,000,000 and the state indicated it could commit about $7,000,000 if the grant is awarded. Monnax also previewed a regional intersection safety plan to identify the county's most dangerous intersections and possible countermeasures, and he reported continued progress on an EPTA transit center and the Martinsburg Greenway Trail federal grant agreement.
Miller warned that a regional WDA allocation is not guaranteed: "We have the $70,000,000 left" from a roughly $100,000,000 pool cited in her remarks, and if funding is not reallocated the region's ability to pursue grants could shrink. She said Region 9 and outside consultants are preparing an economic impact study to quantify the return on investment for projects and help make the case to state legislators.
Both presenters asked for the commission's continued support and letters of advocacy on grant applications and state allocations. The commission did not take a formal vote on the funding requests during the meeting.