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Agency moves to simplify building improvement grants, sets quarterly review schedule
Summary
Staff proposed tightening eligible grant uses, adding parking‑lot and hard‑scape improvements and moving to a quarterly schedule for reviewing applications; board asked staff to return a consolidated draft for the June meeting.
Staff presented proposed changes to the Myrtle Creek Urban Renewal Building Improvement Grant program and the board signaled support for finalizing language by June.
A staff member summarized the core changes as narrowing eligible uses to specific improvement types (painting, cleaning and parking‑lot/hardscape work) and moving review of applications to a quarterly cadence. “I think it says in there that we’re only gonna review quarterly,” the staff member said, describing a plan to gather applications and bring them to the board four times a year.
Board members discussed program details that staff will clarify in the draft. Directors pressed for clearer definitions of what counts as a “neutral” paint palette and how prescriptive the program should be. “I think we should have a set color palette because it’s up to interpretation otherwise,” one committee member said, arguing a palette would reduce inconsistent results; others cautioned that paint chips look different on walls and advised flexible but specific wording.
Members compared local examples: one nearby program was described as a 1:1 matching grant up to $10,000, while staff said Myrtle Creek’s plan could support larger projects in certain cases (examples discussed included $25,000 and $50,000 project sizes). The board agreed to reuse portions of prior grant wording and to consolidate the new language for board review.
Next steps: staff will produce a consolidated draft that pulls relevant language from the old program, defines eligible improvements and color guidance, and return it to the board at the June 2 meeting (which follows the council’s budget session) so the program can be distributed to prospective applicants.
