FELLSMERE — The City of Fellsmere is in the process of applying for a $700,000 grant that would be used to improve transportation along Wyoming and Hickory streets and possibly Pine as well. A second grant, too, is under consideration for economic development that could bring a natural gas line through town.
“We’ve got an exciting opportunity here,” said City Manager Jason Nunemaker during a recent Fellsmere City Council meeting.
If the city were to receive economic development funds to run a natural gas line through the city, it would help attract new businesses to the area, including Florida Aquaculture, a foreign investment company that has been in talks with the city to set up shop in town.
“It will light the project up,” Nunemaker said if the city could offer the company natural gas.
The company has estimated its energy costs could be $900,000 annually on electric, but just $250,000 if on natural gas, Nunemaker told the council.
Having the availability of natural gas could also help the city to establish a commerce park, further diversifying the city’s business base.
The grant that would be used to improve Hickory and Wyoming – and Pine if enough funds are left over – would, in essence, be a continuation of a previous grant the city received and has been used, in part, to improve Myrtle. That project is nearing completion and the grant is in the closing stages.
“It’s pretty nasty,” Nunemaker said of the two roads, especially due to drainage problems when there is heavy rain. “It’s going to be a challenge.”
Nunemaker told the council that the roads are rather narrow and there is little opportunity to install swales to handle drainage as other roads have had.
Also, residents would be sensitive to potential cuts to the tree canopy on Hickory.
“There’s going to be riots,” Mayor Susan Adams said if the city were to start taking out trees to improve the road. “I think this is going to be the road that’s going to take all the creativity we have.”
No one from the public addressed the proposed grant during the public hearing.
The Fellsmere City Council voted 4-0 to proceed with the grant applications. Councilwoman Sara Savage was absent from the meeting.
Kathy Baker, executive director of Jordan & Associates Municipal Consultants – the firm hired to held assist with the grant application – told the council that the grant cycle would run from mid-August through the first of October. The city would hear sometime after that as to whether or not it received the grant funding.
She estimated that there would be around $30 million in the grant cycle to be awarded to the various applicants across the state.
