Chelan County Awards $1.2 Million In Housing & Development Grants
Chelan County has awarded $1,182,000 in grants to five recipients for a variety of projects that focus on economic development and affordable housing.
The awards were made by the Chelan County Commissioners earlier this week.
The money is coming from existing revenues that fund the County's Cascade Public Infrastructure Fund (CPIF) grant program, which allocates annual awards to projects that facilitate the creation or retention of businesses and jobs or permanent affordable housing opportunities.
County spokesperson, Jill FitzSimmons, says the CPIF was created four years ago and this year marked a milestone for its funding efforts.
"This is our largest round of grants in the past four years. It's pretty exciting for us. When we have a little bit more money, then we can take on a few of these larger projects that people are asking us to consider."
The CPIF Advisory Committee reviewed and scored all grant applications and submitted its recommendations to the County's Board of Commissioners, who made the final allocation decisions.
The projects awarded 2024 CPIF grant dollars are:
- Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority: $125,000 - CDRPA plans to conduct a feasibility study for acquiring a key underutilized property in Manson. The goal is to develop a joint facility with Link Transit. The vision includes allocating part of the property for Link Transit to use as a bus turnaround area featuring a charging station and restrooms. CDRPA intends to utilize the remaining property to construct a small business incubator building.
- Chelan County: $75,000 - The Heartwood Biomass Market Assessment will assess the feasibility of establishing a biomass utilization campus in partnership with Heartwood Biomass of Wallowa, Ore. This phase of the project is focused on completing a Market Assessment Report to evaluate the potential product lines and markets for those products in proximity to Chelan County.
- City of Chelan: $300,000 - To unlock development and key economic opportunities, the city of Chelan must increase its water system capacity. To accomplish this, the city will make needed improvements to the Washington Street Booster Pump Station to increase capacity for both incorporated and unincorporated land in east Chelan.
- City of Wenatchee: $400,000 - The city of Wenatchee is upgrading existing utilities on Wenatchee Avenue, between Orondo Avenue and Kittitas Street, to accommodate development occurring in this area.
- Common Ground Housing Trust: $282,000 - Funding will support the completion of eight cottage homes in Wenatchee. The funding will be used to support final permitting, electrical connection, framing materials, procurement and construction costs. The Crail Cottages will be sold to households with income between 65 percent and 80 percent of the Wenatchee Valley’s area median income.