Date: Fri 27-Feb-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

selectmen-ada-block-grants

Full Text:

Selectmen Seek Block Grant For Housing And Accessbility Projects

BY STEVE BIGHAM

The Board of Selectmen voted Monday to apply for a $500,000 Small Cities

Community Block Grant from the state.

The money would be used for local housing rehabilitation and for much-needed

handicapped accommodations at Edmond Town Hall, according to Elizabeth

Stocker, the town's economic development director.

"The primary objective of the Small Cities Program is the development of

viable communities by providing decent housing and suitable living

environments and expanding economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income

people," Mrs Stocker said. "Seventy percent of funds must principally benefit

those people of low and moderate income."

The Housing Rehabilitation Program helps low- and moderate-income residents

fix their homes. Town hall is in need of some major modifications to comply

with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The selectmen's decision to apply for the grant had Wendy Beres smiling

earlier this week. The chairman of the town's Persons With Disabilities

Committee has been seeking a more accessible town hall for nearly a decade.

"I'm extremely pleased with the Board of Selectmen's sensitivity to the needs

of the disabled," she said. "That's the first time a grant has been requested

for public buildings in order for the disabled to even use town offices."

Mrs Beres joined committee member Art Bennett at a hearing on the application

Monday. As Mr Bennett pointed out, the 1992 census indicated that almost four

percent of Newtown residents are legally disabled; 1.9 percent cannot work due

to their disability.

The Persons With Disabilities Committee has requested that $200,000 in grant

money be used for the construction of a new elevator at town hall. The

outdated device currently being used is not accessible to the handicapped, Mrs

Beres said.

The committee is also seeking the replacement of 45 door knobs inside the

building. They are the old-fashioned round type, Mrs Beres said, and they need

to be changed so that they can be opened with a closed fist. Public Works

Director Fred Hurley estimated each would cost about $100.

Mrs Beres is also seeking the reconstruction of the building's downstairs

bathrooms to make them more accessible. She has requested that all fire

doorways be equipped with motorized doors. She also wants all town hall

counters to be lowered to accommodate those in wheelchairs.

Last year, Newtown received $300,000 to replace the pump station at Nunnawauk

Meadows, to rehabilitate homes, and to administer the program.

Copies of the application for the 1998 Small Cities Program and the

Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development Action Plan 1997 are

available for review in the Community Development Office in Edmond Town Hall.