Title
Apply for U.S. Department of Transportation Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development Grant Opportunity for Federal Fiscal Year 2024-25 - Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding (Ordinance S-51634) - Districts 7 & 8
Description
Request to retroactively authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to apply for, accept and, if awarded, enter into an agreement for disbursement of Federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) through the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2024-25 Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant opportunity. If awarded, the funding will be used to evaluate and update the design of the Laveen Area Conveyance Channel. Further request to authorize the City Treasurer to accept, and the City Controller to disburse, all funds related to this item. Funding for this grant opportunity is available through the Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The total grant funds applied for will not exceed $1.75 million, and the City’s local match would not exceed $350,000.
Report
Summary
The Parks and Recreation and Street Transportation departments are collaborating on a planning grant submittal for the Laveen Area Conveyance Channel. The purpose of the planning grant is to evaluate and update the design of a dual-purpose amenity channel that extends 5.8 miles in the Laveen Village of Phoenix, serving to capture and convey local regional drainage while also serving the community as an active transportation corridor. The goal of the planning grant will be to evaluate and make recommendations that would best serve the existing transportation amenity, including but not limited to improvements to the existing channel design, and to design a 10-foot multi-use path on the north side, including landscaping, updated irrigation, turf improvements, exercise equipment, improved drainage system equipment, a booster pump and well, path lighting and other transportation or green infrastructure appropriate for the surrounding corridor. This planning project will meet the grant criteria for competitiveness.
USDOT issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the FFY 2024-25 Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant program on November 1, 2024 and an amended NOFO on January 24, 2025, re-naming the program from RAISE to BUILD. The deadline for application submittal was January 30, 2025. BUILD grants are awarded on a competitive basis considering these evaluative criteria:
- Safety
- Environmental sustainability
- Quality of life
- Mobility and community connectivity
- Economic competitiveness and opportunity
- State of good repair
- Partnership and collaboration
- Innovation
The FFY 2024-25 BUILD planning grant specifies no minimum award amount for urban projects and no greater than $25 million.
Financial Impact
The estimated total cost for the project is approximately $1.75 million. The maximum Federal participation rate is 80 percent, with a minimum local match of 20 percent of the total eligible project cost. If awarded, the Federal match would not exceed $1.4 million (80 percent) and the City’s cost would be approximately $350,000 (20 percent) for the local match.
Funding for the local match is available in the Parks and Recreation Department’s Capital Improvement Program budget. Potential grant funding received is available through the Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, from USDOT through the FFY 2024-25 BUILD grant opportunity.
Location
Council Districts: 7 and 8
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Managers John Chan, Inger Erickson and Mario Paniagua, and the Street Transportation and Parks and Recreation departments.