White Oak seeks grants for renovation projects

They would help cover the cost of a storm water system and televising project and Heritage Hills Park court rehabilitation.

White Oak council has authorized Borough Engineer Amber Yon to seek two grants for renovation projects.

The borough will apply for a PA Small Water and Sewer grant for a storm water system and televising project. The application deadline is at the end of April.

In November, the borough passed a resolution to apply for a $500,000 LSA grant for Phase 1 of the project.

Yon said they haven’t heard back from that grant and suggested applying for the PA Small Water and Sewer grant in case the borough receives partial funding.

“A lot of the portions of the system are pretty old, and this is just preventative maintenance type of work,” Yon said. “You might not receive the full $500,000 that you asked for. You might receive no money at all from LSA. We’re just not sure at this point.”

The PA Small Water and Sewer requires a 15% match, unlike the LSA grant, which has no match at all, Yon said.

Borough officials have the option to adjust the amount later because they’re not sure how much work there will be. Yon added that the cleaning and televising project meets the requirements of this new grant, which can be used for water, storm sewers, sanitary repair and water lines.

“It’s something for you to consider, and given the nature of cleaning and televising, you can do as much as little linear feet as you want or we can taper the application to any amount,” Yon said. “This helps with MS4 requirements as well. You are required to inspect your system and you would be required to make any repairs.”

Borough Manager John Palyo said the cleaning portion of the project is going to help take debris out of the system, but it’s not streambank stabilization.

When the project is completed, Palyo said the borough gets reimbursed by the state for funds into capital improvements. He feels comfortable moving forward with applying.

“I still think we need to look at those funding opportunities and continue to proceed with that, but it is something I would say would be my recommendation to go forward,” Palyo said. “The other thing is, to do the entire borough, it’s more than $550,000. Even if we did get funding from one and we applied to the other, the ultimate goal is to accomplish the task at hand, which is the entire borough.

“So if we clean and televise and then we can plan for future repairs instead of constantly going to disaster response because we had a collapse or a failure or blockage, we can plan on calculating repairs happening as we go on and we would have a little bit more control over that.”

The other grant being ap- plied for is the Greenways, Trails and Recreation Program for a court rehabilitation project at Heritage Hill Park. This grant closes at the end of May, and the maximum amount to apply for is $250,000.

The borough has discussed applying for a pool project with the GTRP as well as doing the basketball court project, which is quoted at $263,300.

It was deemed that there was no imminent problem with the pool lights, according to Yon, but it’s a project that may be considered in the future. Palyo recommended going after the GTRP grant just for the court.

The borough is also continuing to work on a veterans memorial project, with engineers close to getting a structural design and a flag pole. The borough is working with local veterans organizations to build the structure.

Borough officials plan to close out the grant supporting the Heritage Hill Park playground renovations and wrap up some of the details, including ordering a sign.

There are also other projects, including Educational Drive and the area of the old White Oak Elementary school.