City of Lawrence
Planning and Development Services Department
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TO: |
David L. Corliss, City Manager
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CC: |
Scott McCullough, Director, Planning and Development Services
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FROM: |
Danelle Dresslar, Management Analyst, Planning and Development Services
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DATE: |
April 17, 2013
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RE: |
Future Agenda Item: Adoption of the 2013-2017 Consolidated Plan and 2013 Investment Summary |
The City Commission will consider adoption of the 2013-2017 Consolidated Plan and 2013 Investment Summary at their regular meeting Tuesday, May 21, 2013. This Consolidated Plan provides a basis and strategy for the use of federal funds granted to the City of Lawrence by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnership (HOME) programs. This Consolidated Plan covers the period beginning August 1, 2013 through July 31, 2017, including five program years. Programs and activities described in this plan are intended to primarily benefit low and moderate-income residents of the City of Lawrence, neighborhoods with high concentrations of low-income and moderate-income residents, and the city as a whole. The Consolidated Plan is required by the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 and is the result of a collaborative process whereby a community establishes a unified vision for community development using federal, state, and local funds.
The 2013-2017 Consolidated Plan includes the Five-year Strategic Plan, the 2013 Action Plan, and the 2013 Investment Summary for the upcoming program year (August 1, 2013 through July 31, 2014).
Throughout the discussion of allocation decisions for the 2013 Program Year, the final award from HUD had not been announced. The Community Development Advisory Committee (CDAC) began the allocation discussions with the 2012 allocation award amounts as a starting point, which was a total of $758,284 for CDBG and $399,876 for HOME. As the allocation discussions took place, news that the sequestration cuts would be enforced prompted staff to implement a 5% cut to the 2012 allocation amount for both programs. Though the final award amount has not been released from HUD at this time, the CDAC has recalculated their allocations with the sequestration in mind. The final allocation recommendation includes $720,708 for CDBG and $376,402 for HOME. These numbers are subject to change with the final award notification; however the sequestration cuts have already been calculated into the recommendations.
The draft Consolidated Plan is available on the department website at http://www.lawrenceks.org/assets/pds/DevServices/FiveYearConsolidatedPlan-DRAFT.pdf and has been available to the public since April 5, 2013. The public comment period is a thirty-day time period that began on April 11, 2013 coinciding with the public hearing of the CDAC. To date, no written comments have been received by the department. The comment period will end on May 11, 2013.
Staff will be available to answer questions and the Chair of the CDAC, Aimee Polson, will also be present at the meeting.
Should you have further questions, please let me know at 785-832-3108. The Investment Summary follows and can be found at: http://www.lawrenceks.org/assets/pds/devservices/CDAC/Investment_Summary_2013.pdf