‘Hub of the township.’ Old Gregg School restoration project gets financial boost
Centre County commissioners agreed Tuesday to direct more than $200,000 to repair the Old Gregg School gymnasium.
The board chose to fund the work through its Community Development Block Grant allocation.
Commissioners unanimously voted to allocate about $234,000 to Gregg Township’s project to restore the community and recreation center. The township has committed about $7,700 to the project.
The project consists of replacing the floor and the windows in the gym, which is the hardest used area in the building, Gregg Township Secretary Pamela Hackenburg said. The gymnasium is used by different youth groups, sports organizations, Boy and Girl Scouts, and 4-H groups.
The CDBG program provides annual grants based on a formula to develop urban communities by providing housing and a suitable living environment. The funding is provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is designed for areas with low- and moderate-income people. Through a survey, Gregg Township determined the township is 57.74% LMI, making it eligible for a grant.
The project’s goal is to make the gym floor more usable and to weatherize the windows, Mitzi Gallagher-Long, SEDA-COG community development’s project coordinator, told commissioners. The windows in the gymnasium are the same single-pane windows that were there when the building was used as a school, and a lot of heat is lost through them, Hackenburg said.
“It’s an old building, but is, justifiably, the hub of the township. The building is used by so (many) and it’s in need of a lot of repair. The kids come and use it on a daily basis and it gets used really hard,” Hackenburg said. “We also have a food pantry in there to help a lot of the residents and that helps people in the outlying areas as well. So it’s not just helping Gregg Township, it is helping other townships as well.”
Commissioners received two other applications for CDBG funding this year: Eagle Creek’s HOA sewer line and pump station upgrade, and Haines-Woodward Municipal Authority’s waterline replacement project.
Commissioner Michael Pipe said they typically select water/sewer projects for the CDBG. But with American Rescue Plan money available, he said some municipalities have opted to use those funds rather than go through the CDBG process.
The Haines-Woodward waterline replacement is “certainly a good project, but there is a lot of value in looking at doing a facility project. We haven’t done those traditionally but … historically we’ve done some of those projects,” Pipe said.
About 800 households would be helped through the Gregg Township project, whereas the Haines-Woodward project would help about 15 households. Pipe suggested they consider the HWMA project next year. Commissioner Mark Higgins agreed it would be better to get one project complete, rather than have two projects partially funded and carried over to the next year.
By funding the Old Gregg School restoration project, Pipe said they’d be investing in the town and the community, especially with the food pantry and other small, local businesses housed there.
Commissioners voted to put the rest of the county’s CDBG allocation — about $50,000 — toward Eagle Creek. That project costs a total of $1,899,752. By earmarking that money to the project, Eagle Creek will be eligible for a competitive grant. Project funding is available to eligible local governments through the competitive program, which is set aside for critical infrastructure or revitalization projects, according to CDBG’s website. Commissioners allocated a similar amount to the project last year.
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
