The City of Blackwell was awards a $450,000 grant from Ok. Dept. of Commerce for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). This grant will be used with funds already set aside for a waterline replacement project that has an estimated cost of $1.2 million. The bidding and funding process takes some time. We probably won’t see much activity on the project until early 2022. This project will encompass an area from Blackwell Ave south to Santa Fe and 4th St. west to 13th St. There’s already been some waterline replacement work completed in this area, depending on bids, it is hopeful that we can stretch these dollars to cover additional areas.
The Council also approved to seek bids for the 13th Street project, anticipated cost of this project is $2.3 million with that same amount of funding set aside already from the New Market tax credits. Those credits are federally funded and are part of the financing package for the Hospital project that is well underway.
No action was taken on rezoning a lot at College & 13th Street from residential to commercial. The council requested the owners work with the Code Enforcement office staff by completing a Commercial Site Plan so additional details could be determined and a decision can be made by the Council if the plan is submitted for review. This is a plan that all new commercial developments are required to complete.
