The Town of Stuart recently received a $990,272 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from the Virginia Department of Housing.
Town Manager Bryce Simmons said last year, the town also applied for a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). The two grants are for the entire Downtown Stuart Revitalization project.
“Elements of the Downtown Revitalization plan identified improvements to the (Stuart) Farmers’ Market, improved parking, façade improvements, and the sort of the critical project is the mega deck that’s supposed to go behind the properties along Patrick Avenue. It will tie all of those properties together for community space,” Simmons said.
Simmons said the mega deck also would improve access by meeting elements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and emergency access to those buildings and properties.
He hasn’t received the award letter yet, and “until we actually have the contract signed, it’s hard for me to say when we can actually begin” work on the project, he said.
Simmons anticipates the award letter will be delivered sometime this week.
“I anticipate that within the next month, we will start looking for consultants to do the design,” he said.
The grant application was a partnership between the town and the West Piedmont Planning District Commission (WPPDC).
“I couldn’t have done it without them,” Simmons said and added the WPPDC will be the grant manager for the project.
Ninth District U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith- R-Salem said the grant will bolster Stuart.
“This grant provides us a reminder that our rural town economic centers remain a vital necessity,” he said in a release announcing the grant award.
