Village to seek grant for major park upgrades

The Village of Fredonia is interested in upgrading its parks and roads, and it would like someone else to foot the bill.

The Village Board this month approved a resolution to allow staff members to apply for state Department of Natural Resources grants for the acquisition or development of land for public outdoor recreation.

Village Administrator Christophe Jenkins detailed two grants the village recently applied for in partnership with Stantec, whose representatives work with Fredonia on grants.

One is a grant for $272,198 to upgrade facilities at Freedom Park.

“This would add permanent bathroom facilities and a concession/serving station to the park and replace the pavilion structure whose canvas roofing has become a nightmare to maintain and install/takedown,” Jenkins wrote in his request to the board.

“We’ve been trying to get a bathroom there for a while. Different costs have made that prohibitive to us,” Jenkins said.

Redoing the pavilion, he said, makes the grant application more attractive. The canvas roofing, while difficult to handle, also rips and is costly to repair.

If awarded, that grant wouldn’t be received for a few years. It’s a 50-50 grant so the village would have to match $272,000 for the $544,000 project.

“We don’t have to spend those dollars until 2029,” Jenkins said, which allows for time to get donations or set aside capital improvement money.

“While this project is not identified as an immediate infrastructure priority, it represents a valuable opportunity to leverage outside funding for a community amenity,” Jenkins wrote in his request to the board.

Stantec, he said, would help with engineering and the request for proposals process.

Trustee Richard Abegglen asked what would happen to the grant money if the village doesn’t use the full amount.

Jenkins said the money would go to the next successful grant applicant. The village would not have to pay any of the money back.

The village also applied for a stormwater management grant for $86,000 through the Fund for Lake Michigan. Stantec suggested applying after seeing some village roads get flooded last year.

“The last couple of years when we had heavy rainfall, some of our low point roads have began to fill with rainwater,” Jenkins said.

Trustee Eric Stowe asked how the money would be used. Jenkins said it would go toward planning. An engineering company would create a plan of action for the village, identifying things it needs to fix.

“We could probably drive through and tell you where the low points are but you need a plan in place in order to then qualify for these other grants,” he said.

One advantage, Jenkins said, is that the Fund for Lake Michigan also has grants that could pay for work to prevent flooding.