Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
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| For revitalization grant |
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Thursday, December 10, 2009
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Martinsville officials will target Fayette Street and areas nearby in their first attempt to revitalize part of the uptown business district.
The city hopes to seek a $750,000 Community Development Block Grant from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, said Martinsville Community Development Director Wayne Knox.
Funds would be aimed at improving the appearance of buildings on Fayette, improving lighting and landscaping along the street, enhancing the Courthouse Square and improving the start of the uptown walking trail and the New College Institute parking lot on Franklin Street, a document shows.
Land Planning & Design Associates of Charlottesville prepared a master plan for revitalizing uptown. Bill Mechnick, president of the firm, estimated the total cost for all of the targeted improvements at $3.1 million.
Fayette Street is being targeted for improvements initially because there is a “concentration of blight” along the street, Mechnick said.
Knox indicated the city will need to put funds toward the project. It can seek funds from a variety of other sources, too, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program, the Virginia Tobacco Commission and the Appalachian Regional Commission, he added.
Private investments from uptown property owners also will be needed, he said.
“We know what it’s going to take” to do the work, Knox said. “It’s just a matter of getting the money and doing it.”
Any grant funds the city receives basically would be used toward “whatever can be accomplished first,” he said.
Mechnick said the city can apply for block grant funds in March.
Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell is expected to announce grants in June. If the city gets one, it should be able to enter into contracts to start the improvements to the Fayette Street area by October or November, Mechnick said.
Overall, revitalization throughout uptown will take years to accomplish, said Knox.
Whatever is accomplished in the Fayette Street area “hopefully will be a motivating factor” for projects elsewhere uptown, as well as for private investments in such projects, he said.
If the city gets a block grant to upgrade the Fayette Street area, Knox said he thinks getting other block grants for uptown revitalization projects will be possible if “imaginative projects” are proposed and other funding sources commit. |
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