SHAMOKIN - The city has been approved for more than $3.4 million in grant funding for restoration projects on a pair of high-profile landmarks, according to the city clerk.
Shamokin will receive $3,402,111 in federal grant funding to make repairs to the channels of Shamokin Creek and Carbon Run, which includes the historic preservation of a portion of the former's stone channel behind the city's downtown.
Another $25,000 was awarded by the Pennsylvania Historic Museum Commission to be used on the "99 Steps," the stone staircase at Lincoln and Liberty streets. That grant must be matched with $35,000 from the city. City council plans to meet the match by using funds from its annual Community Development Block Grant allocations.
There is no matching amount required for the creek channel project.
Steve Bartos, city clerk, made the funding announcements during a special city council meeting Wednesday that preceded council's monthly workshop session.
City council and the mayor voted to accept the PHMC grant.
Loan sought
Since funding from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the creek channel project will be released incrementally, they also voted to seek out the best possible terms to finance a construction loan for the total amount in order to begin that project.
Bartos likened the financing sought to a line of credit, and said it's necessary because it will take six to eight weeks for FEMA to approve reimbursements for project invoices.
Interest on the loan could be paid with administrative fees included in the federal grant, he said.
A full restoration of the "99 Steps," long closed to the public due to safety concerns, will likely be pursued in stages. The work had been estimated by a contractor in March 2012 to cost $175,000.
Bartos said if associated paperwork is returned immediately to PHMC notifying the state agency of the city's acceptance of the grant, the funding could be turned over as soon as Aug. 31.
Shamokin had applied for $500,000 in state grant funding last year that would have been used to help establish the start of a regional walking trail and would have included the restoration of the "99 Steps." It was rejected.
Bartos and city officials again pursued funding for the project, this time limiting the scope and the award amount, and were successful.
Topic of conversation
Talk of the creek project inside City Hall has been frequent since Tropical Storm Lee caused historic flooding in the Shamokin area in September 2011.
Believed to have been one of several projects of the Works Progress Administration, construction on the Shamokin Creek channel began in 1935 and is believed to have carried into the early 1940s. It's interlocking stone creek bed and stone walls are one of the fewest examples of stone-lined creek channels in the state, and is significant in terms both of quality of work and, at 1.2 miles in the city, its size.
FEMA originally allocated nearly $1.8 million to repair the creek channel. An engineering survey performed one year after the flooding drove up the costs to an estimated $2.7 million. Bartos has said FEMA added to that amount, awarding the city more than $3.4 million.
Engineers and regional historians had worked closely with the city to convince FEMA of the merits of the restoration project.