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Council reviews draft Bay Street building‑reface grant; debate over match and in‑kind contributions
Summary
The draft grant would fund storefront facade work on Bay Street in three tiers (small grants up to $5,000 with no match, mid-tier $5,001–$25,000 with ~30% match, and large projects above $25,000 with finance committee recommended 50% match). Council discussed durability standards, first‑come-first‑served rules, and whether donated materials or volunteer labor should count toward matches.
Port Orchard staff presented a proposed downtown building‑reface grant program patterned on Auburn’s program, with program design and eligibility intended to concentrate improvements on Bay Street commercial facades.
Key program elements in the draft include: eligibility limited to commercial or mixed‑use buildings with visible facades on Bay Street (no ground‑floor residential), material standards tied to the city’s design code (Port Orchard Municipal Code section 20.127450), and three project scales: small (up to $5,000 — no match required), mid (about $5,001 to $25,000 — proposed 30% match), and large (over $25,000 — finance committee recommended reducing a prior 75% match to a 50% match).
Councilors asked how matches would be documented and whether in‑kind contributions (donated materials or volunteer labor) would count. Staff noted Auburn’s program and said in‑kind examples could be recognized if documented; council discussion moved toward a practical standard of recognizing documented donated materials at their invoiced or donor receipt value but excluding volunteer labor as match because labor is harder to verify and receipts are generally required for reimbursement. Several councilors emphasized requiring durable materials (fiber cement, stone veneer, metal accents only as permitted) to avoid repeated maintenance costs.
Staff also proposed a first‑come, first‑served mechanism for the small grant bucket and a grant agreement template that would come back to council as part of award approvals. Councilors asked staff to refine match language and documentation requirements and to return the draft ordinance for adoption as soon as practicable.
Next steps: staff will adjust match and documentation language per council discussion and aim to return a finalized ordinance for council consideration next week.
