Local matching funds for Master Planning grant application needed

For Envision Lincoln to have a shot at a $20,000 grant it is pursuing through Montana Main Street for a Downtown Master Plan, at least a portion of the $4,000 in matching funds will have to be raised locally.

Envision Lincoln began exploring the need for a professional Master Plan earlier this year, and chose to move ahead with the grant application following a July 30 Zoom meeting with Montana Main Street and the Montana Department of Commerce Community Development Division. The Montana Main Street grant program is open to Lincoln as a Montana Main Street member community.

The Heart of the Rockies Foundation originally agreed to fund the $4000 match, but Karyn Good, lead coordinator for Envision Lincoln, said conversations with Montana Main Street showed that local contributions that show direct community buy-in will be essential for Lincoln's grant application.

"We need to come up with some money of our own ... to contribute," she said. The entire match doesn't have to come from the community, but Good hopes locals will support the fundraising effort to improve the chances for Lincoln's application.

The original deadline for the grant applications was Oct. 1, but that has since been pushed back until sometime around the first of December.

"It's a very competitive grant," Good said. "They have about $100,000 (to fund grant applications) and the date of the application opening is the date we need to have the grant application ready to submit, because they go so fast."

Good said Lincoln faces some unique challenges when it comes to local funding for such efforts. "We don't have a big community foundation pot of money sitting around; we don't have a lot of funds locally; we're unincorporated, so there are no tax dollars We all realize that."

Additionally, grants for community planning usually require the local government to sign off on the application. As an unincorporated community without a town government, Lewis and Clark County serves as our local governmental body. In this case, the grant application has to be signed by the County Commission chairperson. If the application is successful, the funds would go to the county on behalf of Lincoln and the county would be the fund administrator.

"it is very important for us to work with the county staff all throughout this process," Good said. They're also working with the Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce, Heart of the Rockies, and the Montana Business Assistance Connection.

"It'll be bit of a collaboration to get this going," Good said. "The good part about having to go through the county is they will be very aware of the project. They'll be partnering with us throughout the project all the way, so it won't be a surprise to them when we bring this master plan to them. They will be fully aware of what's happening in Lincoln."

If Envision Lincoln is successful in their application, they are making plans to make the money stretch as far as possible. Good has found that master plans generally run upwards of $30,000, so she's been looking into different options, such as working with Montana State University's Community Design Center, a group of architectural students who work on similar community design projects.

"That's a real possibility and that would bring the cost of the downtown plan down substantially," she said. "Then we would be hiring a contractor to just do the planning portions. They would work together with the Design Center students. So now we're looking at a planning firm to potentially take on this project."

The original Envision Lincoln plan already addresses a number of elements often included in a master plan.

Envision Lincoln is still working out details on what organization will hold any money raised locally for matching funds.