Section 626-3-3A - TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND PLANNING GRANTS FOR PROJECTS THAT ARE ELIGIBLE FOREST ECONOMY COMMUNITY GRANT PROJECTSThe Authority will not provide direct technical assistance, but may provide grants for Applicants with Eligible Technical Assistance or Planning Grant Projects that are Eligible Forest Economy Community Grant Projects. The Authority may, through a service provider, provide application assistance and administrative support to potential Applicants and/or successful Applicants for Eligible Forest Economy Community Grant Projects, as determined and approved by the Trustees.
A. Grant Application Process. From time to time, the Authority may determine to make technical assistance or planning grants available for Eligible Technical Assistance or Planning Grant Projects that are Eligible Forest Economy Community Grant Projects. At such times, the Authority shall ensure that notice of the availability of such grants is given to all potentially eligible Applicants within the state, as identified in the Sub-Grant Program Agreement. The Authority shall also ensure such potential Applicants are provided with the timeline for acceptance of applications, what must be submitted for an application, and such other information that the Trustees determine is appropriate. The notice and information may be provided by the Authority or by a service provider to the Authority.B. Grant Application Contents. An Applicant shall submit an application complying with the requirements of this rule on forms developed by, or otherwise acceptable to, the Authority, with supporting information as required by this rule and additional information as requested by the Authority or its service provider. The following minimum information shall be required in the application, or in additional materials submitted by the Applicant or otherwise collected by the Authority or its service provider: a. Executive Summary: Summary description of the project, work product, and desired outcome. Describe previous local level of reliance on the closed facility b. Statement of the amount of grant funding being applied for and matching funds, if any, to be received from the Sub-Grant Program or other sources.c. Sources/Uses Chart: A chart identifying each of the Sources of funds for the project; the sum total of these Sources; each of the Uses of funds for the project; the sum total of these Uses. Sources and Uses totals must match.d. Description of what State agencies and/or regional economic development organizations/resources and/or consultants would assist in providing technical assistance or the planning services.e. Project Narrativei. Provide data/background demonstrating severe economic decline and employment loss, event/facility closure date, including but not limited to municipal tax revenues, residents formerly directly employed, residents and supply chain businesses that provided services to the site operators or employees.ii. Describe lack of staff capacity and thus need to hire someone to provide technical assistance;iii. Discuss need for grant assistance, likelihood of success, economic impact;iv. Discuss work product and expected outcome (jobs, direct and indirect; tax revenues, private investment);v. Discuss: existing facilities (on site and other, e. g. rail, ports, etc.), community support (letters), regional collaboration/consistency with regional plan, time frame for completion of redevelopment plan, regulatory restrictions on use;f. Collaboration / Committee Formation Plan: Describe the nature and extent of community support for the project, as well as the plan for formation of Redevelopment Committee made up of local residents and owner of site to steer redevelopment plan. To the extent the committee is not in place at time of application, formation or identification of the committee will be required under the Grant Agreement required under Subsection (D) below, prior to grant funding, for successful grant applicants.g. Contract: Provide copies of all relevant private sector and/or government contracts or sample contracts related to the redevelopment, remediation, and/or marketing plan. To the extent not available at time of application, such materials will be required under the Grant Agreement required under Subsection (D) below, prior to grant funding, for successful grant applicants.h. Budget: Estimate of cost of the overall redevelopment project, qualified expenses (include future costs only), planning/technical staff, materials, travel, other resources including municipal and private funds, or other match, including in-kind match.C. Grant Application Selection. The Authority shall review and score all of the applications, or ask a service provider to review and score all applications. Applicants may be asked to submit additional materials as part of the review process. Application scoring shall be based on a qualitative assessment and recommendation by the Authority's service provider, based upon its review of the Application, additional due diligence, and relative comparison of the Project and the Application to other Projects and Applications for Program grants, as well as the total amount of available grant funds (from the Program and other sources) for the Project and other Eligible Projects. The assessment and recommendation shall consider the following factors: 1. Whether the project involves a nonproductive industrial or manufacturing sites located in communities that have experienced severe economic decline and employment loss due to the nonproductive nature of the site and insufficient technical or planning personnel or resources. Projects that meet this requirement will be given preference in the award of grants, but such preference shall not mean that all projects that meet this requirement will obtain full funding before others that do not have such preference receive any funding.2. Potential impact of successful completion of redevelopment.3. Alignment of intended post remedial use with available forest products market research. The total number of grants awarded and total amount of each grant, as well as the aggregate amount of all grants, shall be subject to the discretion of the Authority. Grant applications may be awarded in the amount requested or in such lesser amount as the Authority may determine appropriate. All grant awards shall be made by the Authority following a vote at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Trustees.
D. Grant Recipient ObligationsUpon receipt of a technical assistance or planning grant, the Applicant shall execute an Agreement with the Authority that contains the following minimum terms, as well as any other terms determined reasonable or necessary by the Authority:
1. The Applicant will use the grant only for the purposes for which it was awarded. 2. The Applicant will repay the full amount of the grant to the Authority in the event of a material misrepresentation in the Grant Application, or in the event the grant is not used for the purposes for which it was awarded, or there is other material breach of Grant Agreement.3. The Applicant shall form a Redevelopment Committee made up of local residents and site owner (or their representative) to steer redevelopment plan. This requirement may be met by designating an existing municipal committee in the case the municipality is the site owner, provided such committee meets the other requirements of this subparagraph.4. The Applicant will provide periodic updates required by the Authority for monitoring purposes, which updates may include local Redevelopment Committee minutes and other data, and verification that grants have had the intended results The Authority may require disbursement of the grant to be in parts over time upon completion of certain benchmarks. To the extent not available at time of application, copies of contracts for third parties who may provide technical assistance or planning services may be required, prior to grant funding.
99-626 C.M.R. ch. 3, § 3A