Failed grant bid draws criticism

Milton lost its chance to participate in the state's first round of the Downtown Development District program, intended to spur growth in Delaware downtowns. At a recent town meeting, a resident who helped prepare the grant application laid blame on the shoulders of Milton's mayor and council for not actively participating in the application process.

The primary requirement to establish a Downtown Development District is that the application must come from the municipality. Milton Town Council first heard about the initiative July 24 and voted Aug. 4 to actively pursue the Downtown Develop District designation. However, the issue never came before council again, and town officials failed to pass a resolution demonstrating an intention to be actively involved in the new $7 million program.

Connie Holland, director of the Delaware Office of State Planning, said Milton's application was disqualified because it was not submitted to the state with an official resolution demonstrating the town's active participation. There were a number of additional forms, such as a list of local incentives, that also were missing from the application.

Milton Mayor Marion Jones said she and council supported the application, but she did not realize until it was too late that their support had to take the form of a resolution.

“It's one of those things that fell in the cracks,” Jones said in an interview earlier this month. “With our 2015 comprehensive plan going forward, Holland said we'll be in a better position to apply and have maps to identify a Downtown Development District.”

Newly designated districts in each county – Seaford, Dover and Wilmington – will offer incentives for developers, who upon completion of projects within the district could receive rebates of up to 20 percent of construction costs from the State Housing Authority, said the governor's Chief Legal Counsel Andy Lippstone. The district designation lasts for 10 years, provided the town or city that applied meets its obligations under the program, such as offering expedited permits and waiving or reducing fees.

Milton resident Barry Goodinson, a professional grant writer who worked on the application with Milton Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lisa Sumstine, said Jones derailed Milton's application by neglecting to meet to discuss the program, failing to be actively involved in the application and by making a call to Holland that Goodinson said is the ultimate reason the application was disqualified.

“I subsequently found out that it was our mayor that called, leaving the state no other choice but to determine that the Town of Milton did not submit this application. And that is why we did not get it,” he said during a Jan. 21 Milton Town Council meeting. “Yes, there were other forms that we needed to have in there that the town did not provide, but it was that phone call, along with the wrong piece of paper, that sunk this thing.”

Jones said during the meeting that Milton's application was already in trouble by the time she requested a copy of Milton's resolution – which didn't exist – from Holland.

“[That call] implied nothing negative toward the writers or that grant,” Jones said, adding that she explained the history of the town's support of the application when Holland questioned who completed the application. “Me personally being involved and supplying the information wasn't very practical. It was going to come from Town Hall.”

Jones said she takes responsibility for not asking that the grant be completed in a timely manner and reviewed by town officials before it was submitted to the state.

Besides the town's failure to pass a resolution supporting the town's participation in the new program, the application also failed to include a cover sheet and checklist, signatures, a district boundary map, future land-use map, zoning map, land-use regulations discussion, description of the need for the district, description of the positive impacts, letters of support from other organizations, information regarding energy efficiency and environmental sensitivity, how the district would be consistent with state strategies, and specifics about local incentives offered in the district, according to the application completeness checklist posted on Milton's website Jan. 20.

“The gaps in the application were all things that we failed to get from the Town of Milton,” Goodinson said. He also said Jones avoided direct communication with him during the application process, and that town staff made it difficult to contact the town's engineer and get the maps needed for the application.

“I do not believe we were ready for this yet,” Jones said in response to Goodinson's statements.

Goodinson questioned why Jones voted to move forward with the application if she believed the town wasn't adequately prepared to participate. Jones said she supported the application by meeting with Sumstine after the Aug. 4 vote to pursue the district designation.

“If you're going to move forward with it, you need to have skin in the game,” Goodinson said. “This is real. This is not a play thing. This is not a hobby. These are people's lives, and it's the economy of the town.”

In an email following the Jan. 21 meeting, Jones said she does not want to continue a public conversation about the failed application and that she plans to focus on future applications and how they might be more successful. She added that the town has a responsibility “to move ahead and still resolve this issue in a professional manner and with respect.”

“Mayor and council are well [aware] of their accountability to the taxpayers for their actions, but to continue this argument in public only breeds negativity in our community,” she said in a Jan. 26 email. “Rather than focusing on what did not happen, the town will be in a better position for reapplication during the next round of solicitation provided funding is approved by the legislators for FY 2016.”

Even though Milton's application was disqualified in the first round, Holland said the town could be ready to submit a complete application next year.

“Milton is a great town with some really good ideas,” she said. "They really need to work on their comprehensive plan to implement their forward thinking and make sure the citizens are involved and that they have a vision for the future that they can implement."

For more information about the Downtown Development District program, go to http://stateplanning.delaware.gov/ddd.