money for placemaking, part 1 – importing dollars into the city

Elmwood St rebuilt with narrower width, new sidewalk and traffic calmed intersection -part of the rebuild used water/sewer funds

In the late fall of 2009 the city manager and I discussed a plan to devote more resources and effort to grant-writing. The idea was inspired in part by comments to this site by John Snodgrass and Matt McDonough about the bayfront plan.

At that time, there were already grant writing efforts underway in TC but this represented an increase in focus and emphasis. The city commission embraced and supported the strategy. There were three reasons for it: 

One, there are many quality projects in the Traverse City queue that could enhance our community if we could fund them.

Two, at the time we started it in 2009,  economic forecasts said our local revenues were going to be flat or down, and a greater emphasis on grants was the only viable strategy for increasing the capital and operating dollars we had to work with.

Three, for all the divisive issues the city deals with this was an effort almost everyone could get behind. It offered boards and staff the opportunity to work on legacy projects in addition to the day-to-day business that consumes so much time and energy. It was responsive to the valid concern about city tax dollars often being spent in ways that benefitted the larger community, by bringing some money from the larger community into the city. And many of the grants were made possible through partnerships with stakeholders in the broader community. 

The city recently compiled a list of grants received over the past fiscal year. The city’s total was over $4 million. Highlights in round numbers include:

• 8th St master plan demo project – $100,000 from the U.S. Dept of Housing and Urban Development for design, engineering and data collection. Info on the project is here: http://planfortc.com/2011/03/31/8th-st-master-plan-demonstration-project/
• Energy efficiency – $16,000 for efficiency upgrades at the wastewater plant, $73,000 for lighting, and $157,000 for partner organizations to do 420 neighborhood residential audits (the energy “sweep”). Info on the sweep project here: http://planfortc.com/2011/03/09/an-energy-sweep-and-the-tabu-lounge-closes/
• Police and fire – $136,000 in Homeland Security and other grants for equipment, training, and enforcement of drug and alcohol laws. 
• Century Inc. expansion – $750,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds that pass through the city for an expansion that will add 35 jobs to the company’s payroll.
• Brown Bridge dam removal – $1 million from the Great Lakes Fishery Trust, which will be added to over $1 million in federal funds obtained by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and partner organizations for the project. More info here: http://planfortc.com/2010/12/02/another-1-million-for-the-boardman-river/
• Senior Center – $30,000 from the Grand Traverse Band for the Senior Center capital campaign.
• South Campus entrance – $664,000 in MDOT grants for the south campus entrance road to the historic barns and Grand Traverse Commons campus. (about $288,000 of this was money to replace the Grand Vision funds that were lost). More info here: http://planfortc.com/2010/12/19/snow-trash-and-the-south-campus-entrance/
• Bayfront plan – $450,800 from the MI Natural Resources Trust fund, and $452,500 from the local funders collaborative, for a total of over $900,000 of grant funding to which $450,800 of DDA match is added for a total of almost $1.4 million. More info on the trust fund grant is here:  http://planfortc.com/2010/12/01/money-for-the-bayfront/   More info on the funders collaborative is here:  http://planfortc.com/2011/03/11/more-for-the-bayfront-local-version/ The recent grant from DTE for the stream through the old zoo property is mentioned here:  http://planfortc.com/2011/06/02/more-money-for-the-bayfront-from-dte-for-the-stream/

One thing to note is that while the funding is in place, most of these projects have not been done yet – so we are in the next year going to start seeing the fruits of these efforts. 

Another thing to note is that we as a city have gotten good at convincing others that we are a good place to spend money earmarked for making quality communities.  When city planner Russ Soyring and I went to the Trust Fund meeting last November to pitch the bayfront project, MNRTF chairman Dennis Muchmore made a point of noting to the many other applicants that Traverse City seems like it gets more than its share of funding, but that’s because Traverse City always brings forward such quality projects that it would be hard to turn us down.

The success of efforts like these is a real testament to the work of city staff and volunteer board members, and it’s my hope that these kinds of efforts will continue after I leave in the fall.  It’s a strategy that’s working.

Later this week we’ll take a look at funds available internally within the city that could be used for placemaking, and how we could get started this year on more visionary upgrades to our neighborhoods and public spaces.