County Commission to award money after staff vetting of applications
The proverbial window has opened for public entities in Sarasota County to apply for Sarasota County’s Resilient SRQ Infrastructure and Public Facilities Program and the Dredging of Major Waterways Program, county staff has announced.
The application period will be open through Oct. 17, a news release notes. “Projects must meet U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements for funding consideration,” the release points out. Further, the release says, applications “must be submitted online.” One application process exists for both programs, the release explains.
“The Infrastructure and Public Facilities Program has $57 million available to repair, replace and enhance public infrastructure to mitigate future disaster risks and address urgent community needs,” the release continues. “Of this, $27.2 million may be used for mitigation projects that increase community resilience to future disasters.”
“The Dredging of Major Waterways Program has $30 million available to address infrastructure needs by enhancing flood mitigation, water flow and community resilience,” the release notes. “Projects may support rivers, bays, creeks or canals that receive and carry stormwater drainage from a large area or have continuous flow,” it says.
These programs won County Commission approval in late April, to address the remaining recovery needs following the 2024 storms: Tropical Storm Debby in August 2024, Hurricane Helene in late September 2024, and Hurricane Milton, which came ashore at Big Sarasota Pass on Siesta Key during the night of Oct. 9, 2024.
The funding will come out of Sarasota County’s $210-million allocation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the form of a Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) support, the release points out.
County staff received the news in January that the county had been approved for this latest HUD funding. Previously, HUD awarded the county approximately $201.5 million to facilitate the county’s recovery from the effects of Hurricane Ian in September 2022.
The following are details of HUD’s requirements for the Infrastructure and Public Facilities Program:
- Initiatives must serve low- and moderate-income individuals.
- The project must have a direct tie to a 2024 storm or qualify as a mitigation-only project.
- The work must entail the rehabilitation or construction of public facilities.
For the Major Waterways Program, the following are the HUD requirements:
- The project must be located in Sarasota County.
- it must have a direct tie to a 2024 storm.
- It must benefit a low-and moderate-income area (one in which at least 51% of the residents are classified as having low or moderate incomes, based on HUD’s Area Median Income chart for the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area, “or address an urgent need (conditions that pose a serious and immediate threat to public health or safety),” the release says.
The steps below summarize the application and project selection process, the release points out:
- A public entity must submit an application to be considered for funding.
- Staff will review and score applications according to the Sarasota County Commission–approved scoring criteria.
- The Sarasota County commissioners will review the vetted applications and then make the final decisions on grant awards.
- Each entity with an approved project will enter into an agreement with the county that outlines project-specific requirements.
Additional information may be found below:
- Infrastructure and Public Facilities Program Scoring Criteria.
- Infrastructure and Public Facilities Program Fact Sheet.
- Dredging of Major Waterways Program Fact Sheet.
- Program Website.
Resilient SRQ launched the Hurricane Ian Infrastructure and Public Facilities Program in February 2024, with $77.2 million having been awarded to 26 projects, the release points out.
More information about these projects is on the county website.