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Richland County staff propose reallocating $250,000 in HUD CDBG funds for community center and blight removal
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Summary
Richland County staff proposed a substantial amendment to reallocate $250,000 in CDBG funds from prior economic-development projects to support the Jim Christopher Community Center at the Grand Village and demolition of five fire‑damaged townhomes in Saint Andrews Woods to meet HUD timeliness requirements.
Callison Richardson, the county’s community development manager, told a noon public hearing that Richland County is proposing a substantial amendment to its 2021–23 HUD action plans to shift $250,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) economic‑development funds into shovel‑ready projects.
Richardson said the county would move $50,000 to help finish the Jim Christopher Community Center at the Grand Village affordable‑housing development on Two Notch Road and reallocate $200,000 toward demolition and clearance of five fire‑damaged townhomes in the Saint Andrews Woods subdivision. “We’re looking at moving these into something that we can actually move out the door right away,” she said.
The county framed the change as both practical and necessary to meet HUD timeliness rules. Richardson warned that failure to meet HUD’s timeliness test could reduce the county’s next award by 30 percent and said the staff plan expects to expend roughly $200,000 of the $250,000 by late July to meet the test.
The Jim Christopher Community Center, she said, will provide on‑site services to residents of the Grand Village development, including childcare, workforce and education workshops, and shared gathering space. On the demolition work, Richardson said the Wood Court units were structurally unsafe after two separate fires, meet county clearance standards, are uninhabitable, and therefore do not trigger HUD’s one‑for‑one replacement requirement.
Richardson said the change will alter earlier economic‑development goals in the affected action plans — for example, previously stated job‑creation targets tied to the canceled small‑business projects — and replace them with slum‑and‑blight removal and public‑facility objectives.
The amendment and related documents are on public display and staff are accepting written comments through May 4. The item is scheduled for consideration by the county’s Admin & Finance committee and, if approved, will proceed to county council and then to HUD for final approval.
