Fairfield residents learn of grant programs to rehab downtown

FAIRFIELD – Representatives of the Downtown Resource Center gave Fairfield residents some ideas for sprucing up the town during a meeting Jan. 29 at the Fairfield Public Library.

The meeting revolved around incentives and funding resources available to Fairfield as the town seeks to implement the suggestions in the Downtown Resource Center’s report. The center is a division of Iowa Economic Development Authority, and five of the center’s members reviewed Fairfield’s downtown during a three-day stay from Nov. 19-21.

On Jan. 29, Downtown Resource Center representatives Sarah Plowman and Jim Thompson delivered a PowerPoint presentation detailing grant opportunities available to improve Fairfield’s downtown, and sharing success stories from other towns across Iowa.

Jim Engle, director of the Downtown Resource Center who was part of the team that visited Fairfield in November, said there are a couple of problems that plague a lot of downtowns.

“Maintenance and bad decisions by the building owners are a problem, but the other problem we see is vacancy,” he said. “Quite often, you can trace the vacancy to a building issue. If there aren’t any business-ready buildings because they’re in bad condition, or a new business owner can’t see the possibilities in them, that creates a problem. We recommend doing a workshop for property owners that highlights the incentives available at the state level.”

Engle said the Downtown Resource Center representatives stressed a couple of programs that would be good for Fairfield. One of them is the Catalyst Grant Program, a $100,000 grant to rehabilitate buildings.

“In our opinion, that’s a program that Fairfield should be applying for every year,” Engle said.

The other important program Engle mentioned was the Downtown Revitalization Fund, a grant program to renovate downtown façades for up to $650,000 covering eight properties. Fairfield has taken advantage of this program in the last decade, but Engle said the town could benefit from it again.

“There are an ample number of buildings that would qualify for the program again,” he said. “Ottumwa and Oskaloosa have both done multiple rounds of it.”

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com