Council votes to apply for $2.645 million FEMA grant for Village Creek floodplain restoration

The Birmingham City Council voted on July 14 to authorize the mayor to apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Pre-Disaster Mitigation grant funds to support the Village Creek Stormwater Park floodplain restoration.

The resolution (Item 42) requests $2,645,000 from FEMA; the city would provide a 25% matching share, which staff said is housed in the grants division of finance. Tracy Hayes of the Department of Planning & Engineering described the project as a continuation of an area study and a later phase of prior FEMA buyouts due to repetitive flooding; she said the project's previously presented budget was about $3,200,000 and the anticipated timeline is 36 months.

Councilor Daryl O'Quinn asked about how the match would be handled; finance staff responded that a matching fund account in the grants division is set aside for these purposes. After brief public explanation by staff, the council voted to approve the resolution to apply for and, if awarded, accept and expend FEMA funds.

The action authorizes application and acceptance but does not itself commit local matching funds beyond the normal budgetary appropriation process; the council's vote sends the application forward for FEMA consideration.