City to apply for $5 million of state revitalization funds
Aug. 23—The St. Joseph City Council unanimously agreed to submit an application for state revitalization funds for a $10 million project along the city's main corridors during its meeting Monday.
The project, called the River Bluff Gateway, will rehab blighted buildings, improve streetscapes, fix infrastructure, enhance greenspace and incorporate new signage — all in a way to spruce up King Hill Avenue, Sixth Street, Downtown and St. Joseph Avenue.
"We have corridors in this community that need to be cleaned up," said City Councilman Taylor Crouse. "They're busy corridors that people see."
The state of Missouri has set aside $100 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds for community revitalization. Those funds will be dispersed by region. The north region, which includes St. Joseph and stretches to the other side of the state, was given $10 million to split amongst municipalities.
The city hopes to receive half of that $10 million, which is a significant ask. Crouse said St. Joseph is the driver of northern Missouri and deserves the funds.
"I'm in towns like Albany, Bethany, Clarinda, Iowa," he said. "Quite frequently people talk about coming to St. Joe, so St. Joe is the big economic engine in northern Missouri."
Any money the state gives will have to be completely matched by the city. Most of this will come from the $4 million of ARPA money the previous council allocated for neighborhood revitalization. Matching funds can also include past projects that meet the requirements.
The one concern is getting buy-in from property owners who let their buildings fall apart.
"I don't understand the concept of investing money in a property and letting it be downtrodden or looking the way it does," Crouse said. "I'm hopeful that we could try to do some things to entice them to do that. Part of the issue is sometimes in some of these neighborhoods, do you fix up a property when you know the person next to you is not going to do anything? So maybe there can be some type of program where we can bring people, neighborhoods together to collaborate."
The $10 million project could be a facelift for major St. Joseph corridors, from King Hill Avenue in the South Side to St. Joseph Avenue in the North End.
"You drive up and down Sixth Street and it's kind of painful when you see all the underutilization," Crouse said. "There's lots of blocks of space that could really be turned into something, either businesses and an entertainment district or just something to drive people down there. Of course, once you drive people into an area, you light an area up, crime goes down."
Quinn Ritzdorf can be reached at quinn.ritzdorf@newspressnow.com
