Ivanhoe city council receives grant updates

By Chris Edwards
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IVANHOE – “There’s a lot going on and we’re making lots and lots of progress,” said Ivanhoe mayor Skip Blackstone, during his monthly regular report to the city council at the council’s regular meeting last Thursday.

Jessica Daidone, of Langford Community Management Services, provided an update to the council as an overview of various grants that are in the works for the city. Langford is serving as the city’s grant administrators.

The $11.4 million grant from the General Land Office (GLO) for a Community Development Block Grant-funded mitigation project, which was awarded to the city in 2021, is well underway, Daidone reported.

Currently, the project funded by the grant, which will see the Ivanhoe, Camelot and Tristan dams rebuilt, or enhanced, is in the engineering design process, pending approvals from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

The Ivanhoe Property Owners Association has approved all the appraisal reports for the needed parcels to acquire for the project, and Langford is preparing the acquisition documents for execution, Daidone said.

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Blackstone added that council had discussed purchasing an additional parcel, for $5,000, in the idea that the city could create a nice park.

Another project, a supplemental project for streets and flood/drainage improvements, which was originally not funded through TDEM monies, is already underway, and funded by the GLO. Construction has already begun, Daidone said.

That grant, for $7.9 million, does not require a match from the city. The $11.4 million grant comes with a local match of 10%, or $115,880.

Other grants that were given an update included another project toward streets and flood/drainage improvements from the GLO, submitted by the city in October 2022. Ivanhoe was on the list of approved projects for this application, Daidone said, but the contract is pending. It is for $1.9 million.

A grant in the amount of $300K through the GLO for a comprehensive plan for the city had its contract executed last October.