City receives $590K grant for streetscape project

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A $590,000 federal grant announced Thursday will help Seymour take another step in the downtown revitalization process.

The city plans to use the grant to improve the area around One Chamber Square on Chestnut Street just south of the CSX rail line.

The project consists of enhancing sidewalks and curbing, upgrading lighting and electrical services and creating a community space that includes seating and interactive features such as an outdoor musical play installation and large exploration boulders.

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The grant announcement was made by Indiana Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch. Seymour and 18 other rural communities received $10.8 million in Community Development Block Grant funds.

Mayor Craig Luedeman said the project is something the city has been working on for the past 10 years, and it ties in with the grand vision for the downtown.

“We want to make downtown a place where people come and stay and not just pass through,” he said. “And we want to make it convenient for them.”

Becky Schepman, executive director of Seymour Main Street, said she was on Cloud 9 after learning the city had received the grant early Thursday morning.

She said when she didn’t hear from the state about the grant, she assumed it had been denied again. The city initially applied for the grant in July 2018, but it was denied.

Schepman said a lot of people her age and younger with children often head to Columbus on Saturday mornings because of the activities available there for families.

“We want to make Seymour more of a destination, a place where people stay,” she said. “They can go the library, and they can have lunch.”

Several steps already have been taken in that direction, including the opening of Crossroads Community Park in 2018 and a farmers market.

“This just opens a lot of options for all age groups,” Schepman said.

Luedeman said construction is supposed to start in the spring with the idea that it will be completed before Oktoberfest, which is Oct. 3, 4 and 5 this year.

“… and with a community block grant, you have one year to spend the money,” he said.

In November, the Seymour City Council committed $450,000 for a local match for the project, which has a $1 million price tag.

Of the matching funds, $430,000 would come from tax increment financing revenue from the Seymour Redevelopment Commission, $5,000 from the city’s economic development income tax fund, a $10,000 donation from the Community Foundation of Jackson County and $5,000 from Seymour Main Street.

A preliminary concept plan from HWC Engineering shows new elements, including porch swings, interactive art and musical features for children, tables and chairs and other architectural and landscaping features.

One of the most important aspects of the project is making the area compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The current design of One Chamber Square has picnic tables set up in a pit area with concrete steps on the west and north sides but no ramp.

That pit would be filled in and made flat, and curbless street design would be implemented, similar to Fourth Street in Columbus. Parking along the south side of St. Louis Avenue would change from parallel to angle parking.

Another major piece is a pedestrian crossing from Jeffersonville Avenue over the Louisville and Indiana Railroad into Crossroads Community Park on the east side of the tracks.

Luedeman said he understands some people are going to complain about spending that kind of money on a project.

“It’s the start of bigger and better things,” he said.

He said you have to spend money to make improvements downtown as a way to attract more investments.

The state distributes block grant funds to rural communities to assist units of local government with various community projects, including improvements to infrastructure, downtown revitalization, public facilities improvements and economic development.

“These funds will bring valuable, much-needed improvements, upgrades and resources in our rural communities,” said Jodi Golden, executive director of the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs.

Two public hearings on the project were conducted during city council meetings — one in late September and another in November — to give people an opportunity to ask questions and make comments.

No one spoke against the project during those hearings.

Tricia Bechman, president of the Greater Seymour Chamber of Commerce, was among those who spoke in favor of the project during the November meeting.

On Thursday, she said the chamber was excited about the changes and improvements to be made to the area even though the changes and the construction mean the dozen or so chamber picnics conducted there will have to be moved.

“We want to see the park become more user-friendly for the entire community,” she said.

That includes making it a more aesthetically pleasing place that offers visitors a warm, inviting environment, Bechman said.

The chamber board plans to review its options for the picnics. An inside venue for bad weather already is in place, and the chamber will look at keeping them downtown because attendees like to be able to walk to the picnics, she said.

The community foundation’s participation in the project to help a community raise local funding is not the first.

This past year, the foundation approved $10,244 in impact and fall grants to the Fort Vallonia Association to help leverage a $244,000 Community Development Block Grant for the continued restoration of the Joe Jackson Hotel on Main Street. That building will become a community center. The state awarded that grant in August.

“We’re pleased that our grant committee and board of directors can work with others in the community to help leverage additional dollars into our community with grants such as those approved through the impact grant and fall grant programs,” said Dan Davis, president and chief executive officer of the foundation.

On Thursday, Scottsburg received a $500,000 grant to renovate a building into a medical facility, while Austin received a $550,000 grant for wastewater treatment system improvements.

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