County advances housing and community-development projects, including digital permitting pilot and CDBG septic work

County planning staff asked the committee to authorize several community-development initiatives focused on housing repair and modernization and to move forward on a CDBG septic-installation project.

Ethan said the county will accept $600,000 from FireHUD Companies to address a backlog of housing applications and emphasized that the funds require no local match but will not eliminate remaining need. He also described a technical assistance grant and capital project to build a user-friendly, digital application and record system for four pilot towns as part of a housing communities program; staff will lean on GIS work to integrate datasets and modernize the development review process.

The committee authorized applications for two home rehabilitation grants (about $300,000 each) that target owner‑occupied, low- and moderate‑income households and generally favor single‑family properties; staff said eligible projects include accessibility improvements, roofs and other basic infrastructure repairs, with award amounts varying by need. For the CDBG septic program, Ethan said design engineers are preparing a bid package for up to 10 septic systems and requested pre-authorization to select an installer to meet a January 2027 deadline; the committee approved pre-authorization.

Staff noted the county will coordinate with nonprofit partners (past partner named: Rebuilding Together) to administer awards where appropriate and will use existing staff and partners to solicit competitive partners and administer grant funds.

Next steps: staff will finalize capital-project establishment and grant paperwork for the digital-permitting effort, solicit nonprofit partners for home-rehab grant administration, and complete the CDBG bidding and contracting process in time to meet the program deadline.