Grant projects in various phases of progress

Published 3:27 pm Monday, August 8, 2016

Of Washington’s 15 active grants, one is complete and three need to be closed because the projects they funded have been completed.

The Trillium Health Resources provided a grant to help the city build the Play Together all-inclusive playground at Havens Gardens. That playground was opened to the public in June.

The new playground equipment, in addition to the Liberty Swing for people in wheelchairs, includes, but is not limited to, other swings, a rocking boat, double ramps and a custom-made sign to identify the waterfront park. Area Boy Scout troops donated money for the Liberty Swing.

Construction of a new hotel is under way, with the city using grant money to pay for installing water and sewer lines to serve the facility. In August 2015, the city was notified it had been awarded a $100,000 grant to provide the publicly owned utilities to the 87-room hotel. The project developer, New Age Properties, is required by the grant conditions to contribute $101,400 toward the project, with the city providing $5,000, which the developer agrees to reimburse the city. The project’s budget is estimated at $206,400, according to a city document.

A grant project ordinance approved by the council shows $149,800 allocated for construction, $24,500 appropriated for engineering design, $9,500 allocated for construction administration/observation, $7,600 earmarked for legal fees and $15,000 allocated for contingency.

The city is using $5 million in grant funding to pay for a stormwater (drainage) project. Engineering for the project and easement acquisitions are complete. The city is waiting on permits required before work on the project can begin.

The city has been awarded $2 million — $500,000 was awarded in the form of principal forgiveness, which will not have to be paid back — for the work. That work includes addressing inflow and infiltration projects.

Inflow and infiltration is when water from outside sources (mostly groundwater) enters sewer lines through cracks, holes and faulty joints. I&I adds to wastewater-treatment costs because it increased the amount of wastewater to be treated.

Last year, the city received a $35,000 grant to pay for an I&I study to determine where outside water enters the sewer system. That study uses visual inspection and smoke tests to locate possible I&I sites in the sewer system.

Other grant-funded projects are in various stages such as reviewing bids, awarding contracts and negotiating property purchases.

 

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.

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