Hefty Grant For Sonora
Sonora, CA — The city of Sonora has been awarded a hefty grant for historic rebuilding and fire protection. The city was awarded $2,000,000 in a Community Development Block Grant under the State of California Community Development Block Grant Program.
Community Development Director Rachelle Kellogg says, “It is excellent news for the city. We were very pleased. It’s very competitive and we were happy to get funding for all three projects.”
Here is the city’s outline on three programs and the breakdown of the amount of grant funding for each project:
1) Final Phase of the Sonora Historic Resources Inventory – $76,000
In November of 2003 the City of Sonora completed Phase 1 of the Sonora Historic Resources Inventory. It served as the initial step in the study and preservation of the City’s historic buildings and as the basis for additional research of these properties. 291 structures were identified within the 2003 Inventory Area. The Scope of work under the new grant includes further evaluation of these identified properties, an update of the contextual history, evaluation of additional structures now meeting the established criteria within the 2003 Inventory Area, prioritization of new inventory areas in older neighborhoods to be evaluated and structures meeting minimum eligibility requirements, within the additional areas approved by the City, will be evaluated up to ascertaining whether or not they are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Properties.
2) Multi-Family Housing Project – Stewart Street Project – $654,500
On January 17, 2012 the multi-family structure, owned by Justin and Keely Pfeiffer, located at 489 S. Stewart Street was destroyed by fire. The grant funds will be used to provide a City construction loan to the property owners to rebuild the structure. The Stewart Street Project will include the construction of a two story 7-unit multi-family structure. The project will include 6 1-bedroom units and 1 2-bedroom unit. The structure is to be placed in the same footprint as the original building and to incorporate historic attributes of the previous building into the elevation. The project is to be rent restricted to low-income tenants for a period of 30 years.
3) Sonora Residential Fire Flow Improvement Project – $1,129,965
The City of Sonora in coordination with the Tuolumne Utilities District will be completing this project. This project will provide acceptable levels of fire flow throughout the residential areas within the City of Sonora. This will be accomplished by the replacement of antiquated wet barrel fire hydrants and the replacement of 4″ water mains in lower pressure zones.
“Fire protection is a big deal for our community as we just experienced the Rim Fire. A lot of the fire hydrants and the water lines serving those hydrants antiquated. This will give us the opportunity to get those replaced and not rely on property owners.”
The grant requirements included counties with fewer than 200,000 residents and cities with fewer than 50,000 residents. A total of $50,362,624 was awarded to local governments throughout the State.
