City seeks major grant
First step in defining Grants' future

By Tom Purdom
Staff Writer

GRANTS — When the city council approved a resolution seeking a $50,000 Community Development Block Grants planning grant, it was a big deal.

The planning grant creates opportunities for the city to pursue other grants and projects. That planning grant is a necessary first step.

If the city is successful in getting the grant, it will provide funding for a 20-year Comprehensive Plan, something the city does not have now. The village of Milan finalized its comprehensive plan under the CDBG grant in 2002 and the county did one too.

"It gives you a plan where you want to go in the city for the next 20 years," said Grants Project Coordinator Roberta Martinez. "The plan is quite extensive."

Actually, the planning grant application is being filled out by the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments. More specifically, Bob Widoe, a COG regional planner, is completing the application. Widoe said once the application is completed, he will send it to the city of Grants for approval before it is sent to the Local Governments Division of the Department of Finance and Administration, the state entity that administers planning grants.

If the city is successful in getting the grant, the money cannot be spent on anything except developing the comprehensive plan, according to the law.

Widoe said one reason Grants needs to have a comprehensive plan done is because until it does, the city is not eligible for some grants and has less of a chance of getting other grants. "Besides, this is like a blueprint for the future and every community should have one of those," Widoe said.

The plan will cover such areas as:

• Land use,
  
• Housing,
  
• Transportation,
  
• Infrastructure,
  
• Economic development,

A list of programs and specific actions to be completed in a stated sequence.

In addition, Widoe said a comprehensive plan may also include issues such as drainage, which is a severe problem with which the city is trying to cope.

The plan may also include the city's plans for parks, recreation and open space, tourism, growth management, fiscal impact analysis, intergovernmental cooperation and social service.

Once the plan is in place, Grants may then apply for funding help with:

Data gathering and special studies,

Base mapping, aerial photography, geographic information systems or global positioning satellite studies,

Improvements of infrastructure capital improvement plans and individual project plans.

Widoe said there are no guarantees the city will get the comprehensive planning grant. Along with approval of the application process, the city also approved $10,000 in matching funds for the plan.

If Grants does get the grant, Widoe said completing the plan could take between one and one-half to two years. "There is very high public input into the process," Widoe said. "You want to have a real solid look at the city because this is a 20-year plan."

Martinez, meanwhile, agrees that the plan needs to be done. "It could open the door for other grant applications," she said.

— To contact reporter Tom Purdom call 285-6184, or e-mail: writer@cia-g.com.