Grant will boost Hampton project

A USDA federal grant application process which began in January has resulted in the Village of Hampton being awarded a $148,000 Rural Development Block Grant that will mean major strides forward for the town’s new West B Subdivision project. 
The application was filed at the USDA office in Lincoln and by March village officials had been notified that the application had received first-round approval. The application then went to Washington, D.C. for the next round of review. 
Village board chairman James Parsley and Karen Bamesberger of the Hampton Community Development Corporation (HCDC) announced last week that word of the grant approval had come in June, which was perfect timing for the village’s July board meeting in which the 6.67-acre property on Hampton’s west side was rezoned for residential and commercial development and the preliminary and final plats were approved.
Bamesberger said the grant application was a joint project of HCDC and the village, but the grant money will go to the village to provide infrastructure for the project. She said the application was for $180,605, but the actual grant amount is $32,605 less than that because of the number of applications and the funds available. 
Rural Development Block Grants are made available by the USDA to help improve the economy and quality of life in rural America. In the application for the grant, the purpose of the project was stated as follows: “The Village of Hampton currently has a lack of sites available for commercial business development. The recent purchase of farmland, provides appropriate location and lot size for businesses to move into. Infrastructure is needed to develop commercial lot(s) to entice businesses to move into this new location. Infrastructure needs for commercial lot(s) are Detention Cell, Paved Driveway, Electrical. Infrastructure needs to meet all state codes as well as pertinent federal regulations.”  
The grant money will be used to improve Lot 1 on the south side (along Highway 34) of the newly-annexed property which is owned by HCDC, for commercial development. The detention cell mentioned in the application is a small pond to be placed on a corner of the lot to retain and slow the flow of runoff water from the site and prevent flooding. 
Bamesberger said she, along with Parsley and Village Clerk Tammy VanHousen, began the grant application process in January and worked on it almost weekly through the end of February.
Bamesberger stressed that while the HCDC and the village are working together on both the industrial and residential development of the subdivision, the grant money is to be used for only the industrial lot. However, Parsley said the improvements made will benefit the entire project. 
“I’m assuming all of that will be done at the same time,” Parsley said. “We won’t just run the electrical to the industrial lot. We’ll run it to all the lots at the same time.” 
“This is an industrial site so we want like a three-phase transformer and a little stepped up (power) from regular residential lots,” Bamesberger said. “And then we want a paved driveway coming into this industrial lot and the grant will help pay for that.” 
She said the grant is set up on a reimbursement system in which the village will contract for the work and the bills will be reimbursed from the grant funds. The effective date of the grant was set at June 7 and the grant specifies that the work must be completed within 12 months of that date. Bamesberger said, however, that if weather or something else results in a delay of completion, an extension could be obtained. 
Development of the industrial lot is a part of the strategy of HCDC and the village to try to attract businesses to the community. Parsley said two businesses are already planning to move to or expand on the southeast side of town and it’s hoped the prepared industrial lot will attract more. 
At the monthly village board meeting on July 10, the grant award was announced and a motion was made and approved to authorize Parsley to sign paperwork to accept the grant on behalf of the village. With the rezoning and plats now being official, the next phase of the project calls for Miller and Associates, the engineering firm hired by the village and development corporation, to finalize the plans for the subdivision and begin the process of letting bids to do the dirt work and infrastructure installation. 
Still to be done is to finalize a reimbursement agreement between the village and HCDC so that when lots are sold the village can be reimbursed for the expense of putting in the utilities and roads. Village attorney Drew Graham said the agreement would probably be brought to the August meeting.
Under the plans for the subdivision, a new north/south 8th Street is to be constructed which will link the current dead end B Street with the highway, providing a second outlet for both the people living on that street and those in the new 14-lot residential subdivision. 
Parsley expressed satisfaction in seeing the project, which has been worked on by many in the community, finally coming to fruition. 
“This has been a long-time goal,” Parsley said. “It will be nice to see them (the contractors) start working on it.”