County Small Town Planning Grants Budget Totals $243K

Paia town file image by Wendy Osher.

By Sonia Isotov

The County of Maui’s Planning Department has issued a request for proposals for a new “small town planning” grant program that has $243,000 budgeted for new projects.

A total of $243,000 was budgeted for Fiscal Year 2013 for the department to issue grants for projects that would provide direct benefits to one of Maui County’s small towns. These towns are identified as Haiku, Hana, Kaunakakai, Keokea-Waiakoa, Lahaina, Lanai City, Makawao, Paia, Waihee, Waikapu and Wailuku.

According to the request, projects would have to meet several criteria:  direct benefit to the town, collaboration and community engagement, accountability of the applicant, project “ripeness,” proposed budget, manageable term and scope, and outreach.

Because this is the first year of this program, and because the department wants to be able to equally award grants for projects in every town, then each town’s award would be approximately $22,000. This is the amount that proposals should consider.

The department will receive proposals through December 2012 and will make its first round of awards in early 2013, with each town receiving one grant.

From January through March of 2013, proposals will continue to be accepted; those towns that did not receive an award in the first round will receive top consideration for awards during the second round. From March through June 2013, any remaining funds will be used for awards for any town.

“Working with the council during the FY13 budget process, we developed criteria for this new grant program,” said Mayor Alan Arakawa in a written statement.

“It will be exciting to see what proposals we receive from our small towns, and it will be gratifying to award grants for projects that will provide direct and tangible benefits for our small town business owners and residents.”

The RFP and application form are available through the county’s website: http://www.mauicounty.gov/index.aspx?nid=121 under Hot Topics.  Planning Department staff is also available to give presentations to community groups.  For more information, contact the Planning Department at (808) 270-7735.