Director of Development Crystal Surdyk and Deputy Director of Development Kasie Foulk presented a new plan for the reallocation of $640K HUD funds to the housing committee at Monday’s meeting. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

After last week’s voting session saw the City Council vote down allocating $640,000 of federal Housing and Urban Development funds to the Gateway Lofts project, Jamestown’s Department of Development has come up with a new plan for the money.

During Monday’s Housing Committee meeting, Crystal Surdyk, city development director, and Kasie Foulk, deputy development director who focuses on housing, presented a new plan for the money – $500,000 into the already existing HOME program focused on infill housing that the city has discussed over the past couple of months, and leaving the remaining $140,000 where it is.

Surdyk said there seemed to be more interest from the council to support homeowners and residential establishments when council members decided not to apply funding toward the Gateway Lofts project. She said the plans discussed Monday are meant to do that.

“So our thought was to reallocate $500,000 of the $640,000 into — so we have an established HOME development kind of category that was established a couple of years ago — and this initiative would fall under that category,” Surdyk said. “That category has already been approved by HUD. We still will have to go through the process of the 30 day comment period and a council vote, but our suggestion was to reallocate that $500,000 into this program that would focus on infill development.”

After talking with the city’s HUD representative, Surdyk said the representative currently has 24 open projects and leaving the $140,000 where it is would allow for them to do two or three more.

The $500,000 for infill housing will be used on scattered site development in the city. The project falls under HOME redevelopment but would be specifically used for infill housing.

Foulk said the $500,000 would allow for probably two new builds after site preparation and the development process, adding that the process could take a while. She also noted that moving the money is not something that necessarily has to happen if council members did not want to move it.

“The money can stay in Home Owner Occupied Rehab if that’s where everyone would prefer it to stay,” Foulk said. “We just can’t spend it as quickly as I think everyone wants it to be spent. And we don’t need to file an extension because we are not at risk of losing our funds because of a deadline.”

The Development Department has $20,000 that Foulk said ages in the fall that they are able to spend tomorrow if they wanted, adding that the deadline is not the issue. The real problem is federal uncertainty.

“I think if times were different at the federal level we would just keep on keeping on the way that we’ve been doing,” Foulk said. “We have enough to do, it’s not that we’re trying to find more work, we’re just trying to get the money out into the community just in case our funding is pulled.”

Almost $3 million has already been lost in grant money at the federal level. Foulk said there is nothing saying another $640,000 will not be the next to go, adding that they have until May 15 before HUD might have an idea of what the allocation to the Development Department next year will be. Foulk said the upcoming announcement only guarantees a formula, and is not an award letter. HUD has taken a cut to their Community Development Program, which means that the city can expect its HUD funding to be cut in half.

The proposed timeline for the project was then discussed, with a 30 day public comment period planned to open on April 15 and to end on May 15. By the beginning of June the hope is to open it up to bids, anticipating a 60 day open bid time frame, with more voting and presentations to come in August and September with construction expected to begin spring 2026.

Planned zoning changes, including language for local contractors, electrification, developer interest, and liking the idea of changing the landscapes of neighborhoods were also discussed.

The Housing Committee approved moving forward with this project, and Surdyk encouraged council members to reach out to the department with any more questions.

“We are always open to having conversations and answering questions and because this is something new we will have to do some more research and make sure that the way we write the program will be in compliance with HUD’s requirements,” Surdyk said. “So, it will be a work in progress, but we want to make sure we are incorporating your concerns as we move forward with it.”