A slew of grants awarded to the city of Springfield, totaling more than $9.5 million, will help fund stormwater projects, including Renew Jordan Creek, and public health services.
The Springfield City Council accepted the seven grants, including nearly $8.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding for four projects that were selected by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in 2022, at its May 6 meeting. The grants are earmarked for specific projects and general services, with some requiring local matching funds.
Renew Jordan Creek is a project to daylight, or unearth portions of the waterway in downtown Springfield. In July 2023, the total cost of the project was estimated at $29.2 million. That cost has since ballooned to $37.5 million.
$5.4 million for Renew Jordan Creek
The largest of the seven grants accepted at Monday’s City Council meeting, $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds administered by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, will fund a pair of projects.
The grant, paired with $2.86 million in ¼-cent Capital Improvement Sales Tax revenues and $4 million in Environmental Services Enterprise funds, will fund components of the Renew Jordan Creek daylighting project and box culverts near the intersection of Boonville Avenue and Phelps Street.
In addition, the city was awarded a $400,000 Natural Resource Damage Assessment grant from the Missouri DNR, also for the Renew Jordan Creek project. The funds will be used to naturalize the stream channel with native plants to protect groundwater quality.
The grant funding derives from monetary damages the DNR recovered from the bankruptcy and litigation involving contamination at the former Kerr-McGee plant, and was made available for groundwater restoration projects.
The first phase of the Renew Jordan Creek project is expected to go out to bid this summer and be under construction by August.
Neighborhood stormwater improvements, detention project get $3.6 million
ARPA funding will also help finance various stormwater improvement projects in and around residential neighborhoods.
Nearly $5 million, comprised of a $2,024,755 in ARPA grant money and $2,950,000 in ¼-cent Capital Improvement Sales Tax funds, will fund the construction of stormwater detention near the intersection of Chestnut Expressway and Cedarbrook Avenue.
The new regional detention basin may provide 25 acre feet of stormwater storage. The site is located in one of five areas along Jordan Creek identified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for suitable detention to help reduce the risk of flooding in downtown Springfield, and with a high benefit-to-cost ratio. The project also includes the installation of new stormwater and sanitary sewer pipes along Rockhurst Street and ADA accessibility improvements and green infrastructure at Glenwood Park.
Stormwater improvements around the intersection of Lone Pine Avenue and Catalpa Street, funded through a $734,000 ARPA grant and matching funds from the city’s ¼-cent Capital Improvement Sales Tax, will include construction of additional water storage and new stormwater piping. The project also includes sidewalk installation and landscaping along several hundred feet of Catalpa Street.
Residential properties along another stretch of Catalpa Street, as well as parts of Meadowmere Avenue and Karla Avenue, should see reductions in flooding with a new underground stormwater system, funded through an $838,000 ARPA grant and $1,187,000 in matching funds and additional reserves.
Both projects around Catalpa are expected to be advertised for bids in July 2024, with construction to follow in the fall or in early 2025.
Health Department receives funds for core services, underserved populations
The Springfield-Greene County Health Department was awarded a pair of grants May 6. The larger of the two, a $474,210 grant from the Federal Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, extending the term of a fund established in 2020 to last through Jan. 31, 2025.
The funding allows the Health Department to identify underserved populations and connect them with community health workers to assist with education, surveillance and referrals to programs and resources to help mitigate COVID-19 and control risk factors associated with other high-risk chronic diseases.
In addition to the $325,455 the Health Department annually receives under a three-year agreement with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the Health Department was awarded $108,406 in core services funding.
Springfield-Greene County Director of Public Health Katie Towns said the funding was made available in 2023 to local public health agencies that achieved certain objectives related to accreditation and staff training. The funding will be used for core public health services and maintenance needs.
