Board approves application for community grants

Ponca City will apply for Community Development Block Grant funding of $114,471 through the state's Small Cities Set-Aside program after Ponca City's Board of Commissioners approved the application Monday night.

The CDBG Program requires a 50 percent cash match specific to the designated projects from the City of Ponca City, and also requires that 51 percent of the people benefitting from the projects be low- and moderate-income.

Grants Administrator Rhonda Skrapke outlined four projects that will be funded through the grants. They include:

Home-Buyers Assistance – $20,000
This project will assist income eligible home-buyers with down-payment and closing cost assistance. This is an eligible CDBG activity. The $20,000 match for this project will be from Ponca City Development Authority.

Demolition – $20,000
This project is designed to remove slum and blighted structures from residential neighborhoods to income-qualified residents. This is an eligible CDBG activity. The $20,000 match for this project will be from the Development Services Department – CDBG Match line item.

Interim Assistance/Special Services – $20,000
This activity will assist low income citizens with emergency repairs including, but not limited to, sewer repairs, waterline repairs, heat repairs, roof repairs, and handicapped accessibility repairs (ramps). This project is an eligible activity, and each applicant will be individually income qualified. The match for this project will be $20,000 from Development Service’s CDBG Match line item.

Attucks Community Center Splash Pad – $54,471
The Attucks Splash Pad will serve residents located in Census Tract 40-081-000400. This neighborhood meets the CDBG threshold inasmuch as 74.35% of the households within this Census Tract are at or below the area median income.

Ponca City currently has three operating neighborhood splash pads online. This budget year the city will bring two additional splash pads online, specifically, the Attucks Splash Pad and the Young Park Splash Pad.

These splash pads are strategically located throughout the city to meet the recreational needs of the neighborhoods within which they are located.

This is an eligible activity within the CDBG programs primary National Objective, i.e., the “development of communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment, and expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low income.” The match for this project will be $80,000 from Hotel/Motel Tax–Public Recreation Improvements.