Stanislaus allocates federal housing funds

Unincorporated pockets, 5 cities await final OK

By Tim Moran
tmoran@modbee.com

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The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors parceled out $9.74 million in federal housing money Tuesday night to five cities and several unincorporated areas.

The money is designed to stabilize neighborhoods hit hard by home foreclosures and abandoned homes and is part of a $3.92 billion nationwide program by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Cities and counties can use the money to buy foreclosed homes at a discount and rehabilitate or redevelop them, and help low- and moderate- income families buy them.

HUD to send valley millions
PDF: Allocation figures by county, area
STANISLAUS COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS WATCH

The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night:
- Awarded a construction contract for emergency power and fire suppression system improvements at the Sheriff's Operations Center to Greg Opinski Construction Inc. of Merced for a little more than $1 million. Opinski was the lowest of eight bidders.
- Declared 39 county vehicles as surplus and authorized their sale. The vehicles are vans, pickups, sedans, police cars and trucks that the county has deemed to have outlived their useful life. The county estimates the proceeds from the auction of the vehicles at $34,400.
- Authorized a five-year agreement with Compucom Corp. for the purchase of Microsoft products. The agreement will allow the county to purchase software and licenses at a discount. The agreement is expected to cost $790,000 over five years.
- Set a public hearing for Dec. 16 for plans to spend $488,526 from the State Supplemental Law Enforcement Services Fund. The money would be divided between the sheriff's office and the district attorney's office.
- Approved an agreement with Patterson to build a bus transfer facility in the city. The estimated cost of the facility is $132,000.
- Approved a resolution to start planning the formation of the Beard Industrial Lighting District. Costs of forming the district would be paid by the business park.
- Approved an agreement with the California Department of Transportation for planning the Highway 99 and Kiernan Road interchange project, at an estimated cost of $1 million.
-- Tim Moran

Ceres, Newman, Patterson, Waterford and Oakdale are part of a consortium with Stanislaus County to apply for and receive federal grants, and those cities will share the money with the county. In addition, an allocation was made to the Weed & Seed program and the county's unincorporated pockets south and west of Modesto.

Weed & Seed is a federal Justice Department program that seeks to fight crime and improve neighborhoods, such as in the area south of Paradise Road.

Stanislaus County gets the biggest share of the money, $3.76 million, which will be used in areas of Empire, Keyes, Salida, the airport neighborhood south of Modesto, and the Shackelford-Butte-Glenn-Imperial area south of Modesto.

The county plans to partner with Habitat for Humanity, the Stanislaus County Housing Authority and banks and community organizations to acquire and rehabilitate homes and help first-time buyers with down payments. The money will be used in a no-interest loan format to get people into homes, with the money coming back to the county to reinvest.

The other allocations: Patterson gets $1.6 million, Ceres $1.12 million, Waterford $1.14 million, Newman $1 million, Oakdale $841,000, and the Weed & Seed and Modesto pockets $258,482. The other cities in the county get their own allocations from HUD.

Representatives of the Weed & Seed area made a plea at the meeting for a larger allocation, arguing that the south and west Modesto population is greater and the incomes lower than in other neighborhoods.

Kirk Ford, county interim planning director, told the supervisors that the county would partner with the city of Modesto to help the Weed & Seed area, but added that the federal guidelines for allocating the money aren't flexible.

The Board of Supervisors approved the allocations on a 4-0 vote, with Supervisor Tom Mayfield absent.

The county hopes to have federal approval of the allocations by mid-January, with programs under way by April. The funds must be committed to projects within 18 months.

Bee staff writer Tim Moran can be reached at tmoran@modbee.com or 578-2349.