Harrisburg City Council meeting on Tuesday.
At a meeting on Tuesday, Harrisburg City Council weighed reallocating money to park projects that lost a portion of grant funding and considered federal housing grant allocations.
Council revisited a budget reallocation for $1.9 million to support park renovation projects at 7th & Radnor, Gorgas, Wilson and Reservoir parks. The reallocated amount would fill a funding gap that the parks and rec department faces after the timeline to use a $13 million state grant expired, causing them to lose about $2.8 million in the grant money.
Council previously discussed the proposed reallocation at a meeting, but on Tuesday said that they had further questions and thus kept the resolution in committee.
All council members asked questions about why the parks and rec department could not complete construction in time and expressed frustration.
“I think we need to admit that the ball was dropped,” said council President Danielle Hill. “It was severely fumbled.”
Parks and Recreation Manager Kevin Sanders disagreed that the ball was dropped, explaining that things like bad weather, increased costs and changes with contractors caused delays and challenges. Sanders said that the situation wasn’t a failure, but a learning curve.
Construction at all of the parks is complete, except for at Reservoir Park where work has been halted after money ran out and the project went over budget. Additional funds will be needed to complete Reservoir in the future, according to officials.
Public Works Director Dave West assured council that the process will be improved moving forward, and that public works will have more oversight.
Also on Tuesday, council discussed federal housing fund allocations for the past three years, which would distribute thousands of dollars to local organizations.
Harrisburg requested council’s approval of annual U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds to support nonprofits and city projects, using money from 2023, 2024 and 2025.
According to Harrisburg’s Director of Housing and Building Development, Gloria Martin-Roberts, the last three years-worth of funds are just being put in front of council for a vote due to delays caused by conflict-of-interest concerns. Martin-Roberts said that members of council, as well as herself, had conflicts of interest due to family members on staff with subrecipients that had to be cleared by the law bureau and HUD. She also said that the grant awards for 2022 were behind when she started in her position in 2023, which caused delays.
The following award amounts were proposed for the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funds, which are designated for addressing homelessness.
- 2023: $168,164
- 2024: $165,432
- 2025: $163,869
For all three years, proposed funding would go to Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Harrisburg, Salvation Army, YWCA Greater Harrisburg, Christian Churches United and the Capital Area Coalition on Homelessness.
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds go toward public service activities, facilities and infrastructure, housing rehab, demolitions and debt service. For 2023, six nonprofits were chosen, along with money for the Broad Street Market rebuild and other projects. The 2024 funds would go to two nonprofits, with more money going to the Broad Street Market. The city has proposed using all 2025 money for city projects, including the Broad Street Market and streetlight replacement.
The city has the following amounts of CDBG money to use from the past three years.
- 2023: $1,882,270
- 2024: $1,864,530
- 2025: $1,806,820
HOME funds support housing development projects. Those funds remain unallocated to subrecipients, but have no expiration date, Martin-Roberts said.
The following amounts are available for utilization.
- 2023: $527,547
- 2024: $352,881
- 2025: $469,627
All Broad Street Market fund allocations were previously approved by council. All other allocations will require a vote by council at the next legislative session.
Additionally, council heard from developer Halden Horizons Group, which has proposed turning an old publishing building at 100 N. 13th St. into 12 apartments.
Council discussed the land development plan at a previous work session, but tabled the resolution due to concerns around a lack of affordable units, community outreach and questions they wanted answered.
On Tuesday, developers said they met with additional community members and groups, and also decided to lower the rental price for one or two of the units.
“I do want to thank you for taking our questions seriously,” council member Rob Lawson said.
Council is slated to vote on all of the above legislation at next week’s session, which is also the final council meeting before their summer recess.
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