GAINESVILLE -- Hall County officials are looking to apply for funding for two projects in the county.
The largest of those is a more than $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation that the county hopes to use for an extension project on Sardis Road. The grant would come as part of the DOT's Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program and, if applied for and approved, would require the county to match 20 percent of the funding with cash, which in this case would be over $4 million. That money, according to county officials, would come from SPLOST funds.
The Hall County Commission was told at its Monday work session by county officials that the application would need to be made by the middle of October. After that, they say, there would be a six to eight month waiting period before the grant would be awarded if the DOT approved it.
The other grant the county is seeking is for a marketing plan for Healan's Mill and the planning and design of the county visitor's center. That grant would be $150,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission and would require the county to match the grant with $150,000 of its own. County officials said that match would be made with money from the county's special project portion of its general fund.
The county commission gave consent to both applications and will vote to authorize officials to apply for the grants at their meeting Thursday evening.
