By Betsy Finklea
The City of Dillon is looking into instituting a facade program for businesses in the historic district.
The person seeking the grant will fill out the guidelines for a certificate of appropriateness, go before the Board of Architectural Review, and then request the grant. The money will be given out on a first come, first serve basis.
City Manager Glen Wagner said the council needed to decide how they wanted to go forward and how they wanted to go ahead with it in the coming year’s budget. This grant will be strictly for storefronts.
$1,000 was discussed, but Mayor Todd Davis said this would be “a lot” for the city of given up. He said he was thinking the highest total match from the city would be $500. The grant amount would be 50-50-one would get half of what they spend. Councilman Phil Wallace proposed a budget of $2,500, which would fund at least five projects. He said if there was tremendous interest, they could do more down the road.
Revitalization Coordinator Maggie Riales said the Board of Architectural Review felt that if less than $1,000 was given that business owners would not go through the process.
Councilman Johnny Eller asked how businesses would be notified. He was told through the newspaper. Businesses would have four months to complete the project, and the city will reimburse the business owner when the project is completed.
Wagner told the council to consider this, and it will be brought back up next month and the details will be finalized.