Gardner City staff propose expanded slum-and-blight inventory to preserve CDBG funding options

Gardner City staff asked elected members on April 28 to support updating the city’s slum-and-blight inventory — a step needed to preserve an alternative pathway for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding that expires June 30.

The director explained that CDBG projects must be eligible under the Housing and Community Development Act and must meet a federal "national objective," typically either a low- and moderate-income (LMI) benefit, slum/blight removal or prevention, or an urgent-need standard. The director said Gardner’s share of LMI residents has fallen to about 43.7%, down from roughly the mid-50s in previous counts, which makes it harder to qualify certain infrastructure projects under the LMI objective.

To keep the slum-and-blight designation option available, staff proposed updating the inventory that was originally completed in 2016 and that was mapped to the downtown urban renewal area. The director said the city asked BSC Group, one of the city’s on-call engineering firms, to prepare a scope for the update. "Their initial estimate was for approximately 300 parcels," the director said, and expanding the map to include additional census-tract block groups with higher concentrations of LMI residents would add roughly 670 parcels. According to staff, the original quote of about $25,000 for the smaller inventory would increase to roughly $60,000 for the expanded scope to cover the larger parcel count and work product.

Staff recommended expanding the inventory to include census tracts the director identified in the discussion as 70731 and 70733, saying those neighborhoods appear to have infrastructure needs that could be eligible for CDBG-funded improvements if the area is designated. A committee member noted the state designation would last 10 years.

No formal vote was required at the meeting; staff said they were seeking input before moving forward. On funding, staff reported that approximately $25,000 in FY22/23 administrative CDBG funds remain available and would be used to start the inventory work, and staff indicated they have not yet spent FY24 administrative funds.

If the city hires BSC Group and completes the inventory, the director said the firm will provide the documentation needed to apply to the state for slum-and-blight area designation.

Next steps identified at the meeting: staff will finalize a scope and cost with BSC Group, consider the expanded map areas discussed by members, and use available administrative CDBG funds to begin the work in time to pursue the state designation before the current expiration on June 30.