Union Bridge News-Briefs

(12/26) Grant Money To Aid Shriner Court

In December, the Town Council approved a motion to distribute funds to the Shriner Court Retirement Community for much needed repairs.

The 20-unit (10 duplexes) community was built in the early 2000’s to accommodate low-income seniors and provide them affordable housing. The apartments participate in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) HOME Program, which provides grant money to create these affordable housing opportunities.

This program allows some of the units to have the rent capped at the local Fair Market Rent (FMR) values or even lower. These values are determined by estimating gross rent cost to include necessary utilities. The rest of the apartments are either at or below 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI), which is the middle range for the region's income, meaning half are above this number and half are below.

There are a total of 11 HVAC systems and eight hot water heaters that require replacement. Not surprising since the units are over 20 years old and many of said units still have their original HVAC systems and hot water heaters.

Councilmember Laura Conway met with grant representatives to obtain funding for the $113,668 project and was successful in receiving $81,900 for the replacements. This left $31,700 for the Town to cover from the Shriner Court "budget," which was requested by Conway and approved by the Council.

Lead Pipe Survey Update

An ongoing project for Union Bridge, as well as other surrounding small towns, is the Lead and Copper Rule Revision (LCRR) mandate that was released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2021. The mandate requires every lead and galvanized pipe in the nation to be replaced by 2034. A complete service line material inventory and replacement plan was required to be completed by October 2024.

According to Town Clerk and Treasurer Dawn Metcalfe, the Town continues to work on the project. Letters have been sent to houses with pipes made of unknown materials, as well as houses that are known to have lead or galvanized materials. Metcalfe said they would need to hire a specialist to identify which pipes are lead or galvanized on the Town side (versus residential) that are currently unknown.

Mayor Perry Jones reminded the Council that the project is an unfunded mandate, and they plan on looking for and applying for grants to help pay for the required work.