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In 2008, the city applied for state Elm Street designation for the Salem Square neighborhood on the west side.
The designation brings grant funding for neighborhood improvements, such as new streetscape items or home rehabilitation. The city received the state's first Elm Street designation for Olde Towne East in 2004, and officials wanted to create a similar program for the west end.
But the state budget crunch has stalled those plans.
A Nov. 9 memo from the state department of community and economic development states that over the past two years, New Communities funding was cut from $18 million to $11.25 million, with the most dramatic cuts taking place in the current fiscal year.
Because of that funding loss, no new designation requests will be granted for this year, the memo states. Elm Street programs already in place will not be affected.
"We're clearly disappointed," Dan Robinson, the city's community development director, said Tuesday.
City officials had said the application was received favorably, and Robinson said it appeared the city would receive the designation until the state funding was slashed.
He said the city would like to remain in line in case future funding is available but some of the plans might be able to be instituted without the Elm Street program.
"Our application detailed a nice footprint of what we want to do," he
Kim Bracey, the city's mayor-elect, worked on the plan when she was the city's community development director.
She said she was still optimistic, since the city now has a revitalization plan in place. She emphasized that the city can look for other funding streams.
"There's ways to still get some things done," she said.
Still, she said, she was disappointed for the residents involved.
"I'm hopeful they'll stay involved and reclaim the neighborhood," she said.
The Elm Street memo notes that communities might wish to move forward on projects using other resources. Those resources would count toward the required matching funds if the community is designated later, it states, but "DCED will not guarantee a future year designation for any community."
The neighborhood
The city last year applied to receive Elm Street designation for the Salem Square neighborhood, stretching roughly between Penn Street and Belvidere Avenue and Market Street and College Avenue.
The city's original plans encompassed a larger area, but the project was scaled back based on state feedback.
Online
Want to read the memo regarding Elm Street funding? Visit www.padowntown.org.
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