This was submitted by City Hall.
MELROSE — Despite a challenging municipal budget environment, the city of Melrose has secured a range of state and federal funding totaling over $1.2 million for important city infrastructure improvement projects.
By aggressively pursuing state, federal and private grant funding for city priorities, Melrose officials hope to bridge any budget shortfalls resulting from revenue challenges and rising project costs. However, the city’s total capacity to seek such funding is ultimately limited, because many grant programs require matching contributions from grant recipients.
Later this year, Melrose and Malden will collaborate to conduct the first phase of a stormwater study, design and construction project in the Lebanon Street and Sylvan Street area along the border between the two cities. The project will address health and safety challenges posed by storms in the area, rebuilding the downstream drainage system that runs through Melrose’s Wyoming Cemetery and into Malden. This project, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and funded as a Congressional Community Project, was made possible by the advocacy and support of Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, a former Melrose resident.
The total grant award for this project is $1 million.
“The City of Melrose is deeply grateful for Whip Clark’s leadership on the impact of climate change in our community,” said Melrose Mayor Jen Grigoraitis. “With the increasing intensity and frequency of rainstorms in our area, the Lebanon/Sylvan Street neighborhood that runs from Melrose into Malden experiences significant flooding, which impacts nearby homes, businesses, and resident access to mass transit. This substantial investment will enable Melrose to develop and execute strategic, climate-resilient solutions that will benefit current and future residents of our community. Thank you to Whip Clark and her hardworking team for this support.”
“Extreme weather events are increasing nationwide, which has translated to flooding in our local communities. I am proud to have worked with the city of Melrose to bring home this funding to help tackle the climate crisis and protect our businesses and residential neighborhoods,” said Democratic Whip Katherine Clark. “This is how our elected leaders should operate: partnering together to deliver for families back home.”
The city of Melrose is also pursuing two other significant grant-funded stormwater management and climate change mitigation projects. Melrose has been awarded $251,685 in a Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant administered by FEMA and MEMA for the design and construction of stormwater management and flood control in the neighborhood of Burnett Park in eastern Melrose. Additionally, the city is part of a collaboration project with the Upper Mystic River Communities, as part of a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MPV) program grant, to identify and mitigate flood prone areas for priority populations. MEMA has also awarded Melrose $22,500 to update the city’s Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan, which is an important prerequisite to apply for other federal funding.
Congressional Community Funding, sometimes formerly known as “earmarks,” is a funding mechanism directed by individual Members of Congress towards important projects and priorities in the communities they represent. Members provide information, such as the purpose and recipient of the funding to ensure no conflicts of interest, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) oversees the use and efficacy of the funding.
The Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant program (MVP) provides support for cities and towns in Massachusetts to begin the process of planning for climate change resiliency and implementing priority projects. The state awards communities with funding to complete vulnerability assessments and develop action-oriented resiliency plans. Communities who complete the MVP program become certified as an MVP community and are eligible for MVP Action Grant funding and other opportunities. Melrose was in the first class of Massachusetts communities in 2018 to become designated as a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness community and therefore eligible to apply for MVP Action Grants.
