Electric City expects $1 million in improvements

Electric City has received word that it was awarded a $735,000 grant for major street repair.

The grant requires a 5-percent match of nearly $37,000.

City Clerk Russell Powers said the state Transportation Improvement Board grant will enable the city to put in new streets, curbs and sidewalks that will connect the city’s two new proposed park sites.

The work “is planned for 2018,” Powers stated, as soon as bid specifications and engineering can be finished.

The grant will provide funds for curbs, sidewalks and new streets on Grand Avenue, part of Kent Street to Western Avenue and on to McNett Street.

Powers said the city hopes to combine the resources of the TIB grant with some $200,000 the city received recently in a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant. The FEMA grant requires a 12.5-percent match of about $25,000.

The two grants will provide about $1 million for improvements in the city.

The grants are in concert with the city’s plan to submit a grant request for construction and development of the McNett Avenue park. If the city received its park grant, it would match with funds from its hotel/motel fund for boosting tourism.

Powers stated that the work will include some stormwater drainage work.