HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 1/23/2024 - Memorandum From Kerri Ishmael Re: Q4 2023 Grants UpdateFinance Administration
215 N. Mason St
PO Box 580, Fort Collins, CO 80522
970-221-6788
MEMORANDUM
Date: January 18, 2024
To: Mayor and Councilmembers
Thru: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Travis Storin, Chief Financial Officer
From: Kerri Ishmael, Senior Analyst, Grants Administration
Subject: Q4 2023 Grants Update
Summary
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide an update on grant opportunities pursued during Q4 2023 and
notices of award received during Q4 2023, as well as a view of Q1 2024 known pursuit of funds.
Reported grant information relates only to federal and state grant opportunities. All private grant opportunities, as a
part of philanthropic funding, are supported, tracked, and reported through City Give. Information provided below is
further divided by Service Area, with key highlights by departments in pursuing these funding opportunities, as well
as awards by departments having a significant impact on our communities that align directly with the City’s strategic
objectives.
Funding Opportunities Applied for in Q4
Total Ask for Funds
PDT
$13,439,804
Utilities
$1,015,610
SSA
$250,000
Community
Services
$226,791
Q4 2023 -Ask for Funds by Service Area
# of Applications
DocuSign Envelope ID: 179C4161-4E31-4E7D-BC1D-D4FB915C4A61
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A total of 11 funding opportunities were pursued during Q4 2023, totaling $14,932,205, with asks varying from
multi-million-dollar infrastructure upgrades and investments to cultivating career pathways. Specifically:
• Utilities’ Water Quality Services Division put forth an ask under Colorado State Forest Service’s Forest
Restoration & Wildfire Risk Mitigation Grant Program in support of protecting the City’s Michigan Ditch.
Michigan Ditch, originally built in 1902, has been owned by the City since 1971. The Ditch redirects water
from the Michigan River on the western slope to the Poudre River. The ask for $1,015,610 supports forest
treatments in areas identified with the greatest risk of post-fire erosion. A total of 150 acres of high-elevation
spruce-fir located within Colorado State Forest are proposed for tethered treatment and helicopter treatment
all in support of protecting Michigan Ditch infrastructure. Colorado State Forest Service is allocating $500,000
of federal pass-through dollars in support of the project. Utilities is providing an additional $631,000 in cash
and in-kind staff time in support of the project.
• Community Services’ Gardens on Spring Creek put forth an ask under the Institute of Museum and Library
Services’ Museums for America Grant Program in support of offering a Cultivating Career Pathways
Program with the goal to provide clear and accessible pathways for career learning in green careers,
specifically, botanic gardens. The proposed project serves students in middle school through college by
providing age-appropriate opportunities to inspire, explore and learn. Total project costs are $626,815, with a
request for $226,791 and the City contributing the remaining $400,024 from in-kind staff time and other
budgeted funds.
• PDT’s Community Development & Neighborhood Services put forth an ask under FEMA’s Building Resilient
Infrastructure and Communities Program to develop an Environmental Master Plan (EMP) that will provide
the nexus between stormwater management design criteria and natural habitat protections on private
property, and sustainable infill development. The resulting framework for integrating nature-based solutions
and natural habitat design standards will support the City’s development review process. The EMP will be an
attachment to the Larimer County Hazard Mitigation Plan and inform updates to the City’s Land Use Code.
Total project costs are $563,000, with an ask of $345,000 from FEMA and the City providing $218,000 from
in-kind staff time.
• There were BIG efforts by FC Moves, Engineering and Transfort in response to the North Front Range
Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (NFRMPO) 2023 Call for Projects. A total of $13.1 million was
requested for numerous projects, ranging from major trail, corridor and roadway infrastructure projects, design
and implementation of pedestrian and bicycle facilities, ADA bus stop upgrades and purchase of battery
electric buses. As noted below, they were VERY successful in this competitive ask for federal funds,
competing against many other municipalities within Larimer County and Weld County.
DocuSign Envelope ID: 179C4161-4E31-4E7D-BC1D-D4FB915C4A61
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Funding Opportunities Awarded Q4 2023
A total of 8 awards, totaling $8,453,612 were received during Q4 2023, corresponding to efforts by many
departments in support of furthering existing programs, as well as supporting new opportunities that align with
several strategic objectives of service areas. Specifically:
• Recreation received $2 million under the new Climate Resilience Challenge Grant program, part of the
state’s Energy and Mineral Impact Assistance Fund, to support design and construction of the Southeast
Community Recreation Center. The award supports funding for building proposed Phase II of the Southeast
Community Center, which increases the size and scope of the facility. The ask aligns with priorities of both the
City and the Governor, including providing equitable access to recreational experiences and multimodal
transportation options; reaching goal of 100% renewable energy through a LEED, Gold build that incorporates
solar power; providing affordable and accessible childcare; and utilizing the facility as a communication hub to
support the community during an emergency event.
• PDT’s successful collaborative efforts by FC Moves, Streets and Engineering under the DOT’s highly
competitive FY23 Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant program for funding both planning and
demonstration activities. DOT awarded the City $964,480, with the Colorado Department of Local Affairs
awarding the City $241,120 to cover the required match, funding in full total project costs of $1,205,600. This
will support:
o A supplemental planning project that expands on the Active Modes Plan to identify specific
causes of crashes and explore feasibility of various arterial improvements such as separated bike
lanes, protected intersections, lane diets and road diets. The study will include 27 miles of arterial
$26,301,040
$8,453,612
PDT, $6,398,027
SSA $9,000
Community
Services
$2,000,000
Police
$46,585
Q4 2023 - Grant Awards by Service Area
DocuSign Envelope ID: 179C4161-4E31-4E7D-BC1D-D4FB915C4A61
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roadways bounded by College Avenue, Horsetooth Road, Overland Trail and Laporte Avenue.
Community engagement will be a major component of the study.
o A demonstration activity to test the effectiveness of temporary protection along Centre Avenue
from Worthington Circle to Bay Drive. The project proposes the use of temporary separators
(flexible posts) to compare before and after data on multimodal usage and vehicular speeds. The
goal is to test the effectiveness of countermeasures as a means of providing access to safe active
modes of transportation, with results being used to inform future active modes of transportation
infrastructure.
• Transfort’s successful ask under the NFRMPO 2023 Call for Projects for $538,000 in support of upgrading
several of the City’s remaining bus stops. This project supports the goal of having all four hundred and fifteen
bus stops owned and maintained by Transfort fully complaint with ADA standards.
• Engineering also successful under the NFRMPO 2023 Call for Projects, receiving:
o the remaining $1.7 million needed for the College and Trilby Intersection Reconstruction project,
projected to cost ~$17 million. The City has funds committed through other federal and state
grants, as well as City funds to support the multi-million-dollar project and
o the remaining $3.2 million for completing the last gap in the Power Trail, providing connectivity
from the Poudre River Corridor to the Big Thompson Corridor. Total project costs are estimated at
$11.2 million, which is being funded through other successful funding efforts and committed City
funds.
Outcome in relation to the $26,301,040 in request for funds includes an ask for $6.3 million under the DOT’s SS4A
FY23 funding program in support of an infrastructure project along Harmony Road. The City is scheduled to have a
debrief with the DOT at the end of January over the Harmony Road Implementation project, with hopes that such
feedback will support a future ask under the next FY24 funding cycle proposed this spring. The project proposes
incorporation of separated bike lanes, bike phasing at signals, traffic signal timing improvements and vehicle lane
narrowing along the Harmony Corridor from JFK Parkway to I-25 West Frontage Road. Proposed mitigation
measures support the City’s (1) Vision Zero Action Plan to mitigate speed-related risks and to reduce serious
injuries and fatal crashes and (2) Active Modes Plan to provide safe facilities in support of increased active modes
users.
As discussed above, regardless of the BIG efforts by PDT, ~$7.7 million was not awarded under the highly
competitive NFRMPO 2023 Call for Projects.
The City was awarded 32% of total requested funds.
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The City is awaiting the outcomes on several grant applications, with total asks of $84.8 million.
A Look Ahead at Q1 2024
Success by Connexion in partnership with Larimer County under the Colorado Broadband Office’s Capital Projects
Fund Broadband Infrastructure Grant program, to fund broadband infrastructure for unserved and undeserved
locations. A total of $10.2 million was awarded from Colorado Broadband, with Larimer County and Poudre Valley
REA contributing the remaining $3.4 million of total project costs. Funds will support providing reliable and equitable
broadband to the rural communities of: (1) Risk Canyon; (2) Poudre Park; (3) Red Feather Lakes and (4) Rustic to
Colorado State University Mountain Campus.
Natural Areas pursues funds in support of improving the status of the Northern Leopard Frog that is listed as a Tier
1 species of greatest conservation need by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. More to come from the proposed water
restoration project by Natural Areas in Q1 2024.
Utilities’ Water Quality Services Division pursues planning funds for development of a Wildfire Ready Action
Plan to identify future mitigation projects in higher elevation areas to protect City’s water supply infrastructure
PDT $73,039,586
Utilities,
$1,015,610
SSA
$250,000
Community
Services,
$226,791
Connexion,
$10,249,414
Pending Funding Asks
10 Applications in Q3 and Q4 2023, Totaling $84,781,401
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(Michigan Ditch and Joe Wright Reservoir). The planning ask includes partnership with City of Greeley and Water
Supply & Storage Company - Public and Environmental History Center (colostate.edu). Both partners propose
contributing funds in support of the planning project to support evaluating future mitigation measures to protect their
water supply infrastructure.
PDT’s Engineering pushes forward in collaboration with the Midtown Business Improvement District in another ask
for funds for the Midtown Business Improvement project. While unsuccessful under the FY23 funding cycle,
DOT highly rated the project under the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE)
grant program, encouraging the City to pursue next funding cycle. The Midtown Business Improvement project will
finalize plans for future construction in 2027 of the 1.33-mile corridor of College Ave from Boardwalk Drive to, and
including, the West Drake Road intersection. The scope of the design covers infrastructure updates for the corridor
to improve safety for all modes of travel, business access, ADA access, active modes infrastructure, access to the
adjacent bus rapid transit line and regional Mason trail, and stormwater drainage.
DocuSign Envelope ID: 179C4161-4E31-4E7D-BC1D-D4FB915C4A61