Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents ask Strafford County to seek emergency CDBG help to repair Fieldstone Village roads
Summary
Fieldstone Village Cooperative asked the Strafford County Board of Commissioners on June 4 to sponsor an emergency CDBG/PIP request to repair the park’s main entrance; the coop gave a $60,000 estimate and said its insurer may stop coverage by July. Commissioners said they would investigate eligibility and follow up.
At its June 4 meeting, the Strafford County Board of Commissioners heard from Laura, a board member of Fieldstone Village Cooperative, who asked the county to help sponsor an emergency Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) intervention to repair the park’s main entrance road.
"Our parks roads have deteriorated to the point where the insurance has told us that they will no longer cover us as of July," Laura said, describing a first repair quote of about $60,000 and noting that many residents are elderly or on fixed incomes.
The request was presented as Item 6 on the agenda. Laura told commissioners the cooperative is a resident-owned community of roughly 100 homes; owners each hold an interest in the parkland, and the community recently spent funds addressing a water problem and has limited reserves. "We just finished cleaning up our water issue," she said, "so this is a problem."
County staff and commissioners responded with a caution about federal rules that govern CDBG spending. A county official noted that Rochester is an entitlement community, which generally prevents the county from using its own CDBG funds for projects inside that jurisdiction, but added that the federal program includes an emergency public facilities fund that might apply.
The official said the commission did not yet know whether the county could use that emergency fund for Fieldstone Village and that staff would investigate. "We're going to try to find out for you," the official said, promising to follow up with Laura after checking eligibility and prior contacts the county had already made on the cooperative’s behalf.
Laura said she had already applied for CDBG assistance and been told the park was not eligible. She described the community as low- and middle-income homeowners who pay modest fees ("I think it's $300 to help maintain it") and said she had reached out to multiple parties before contacting the county.
Next steps: commissioners asked staff to look further into emergency funding options and report back to Laura with any viable pathways. No formal vote or commitment of county funds was taken at the meeting.
