Koochiching County’s Island View sewer project is among 90 projects seeking $288.4 million in funding under the Capital Projects Grant Program through the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
The projects will be eligible for $47.5 million in bond funding approved during the 2012 legislative session.
“We were impressed by the volume and quality of the projects submitted for capital project grants,” said DEED Commissioner Mark Phillips. “In the next several weeks, we will evaluate the applications closely and make a decision on which projects are selected. It’s going to take time, given the huge response to the program.”
Koochiching County is seeking $7.5 million to extend a sanitary sewer collection system to serve about 200 residents along Rainy Lake. The project would extend the collection system from where it now ends around the Crystal Beach area off County Road 20 to the Island View area.
The Island View project is part of a larger project called the Voyageurs National Park Clean Water Project, which is governed by a joint board of Koochiching and St. Louis county commissioners. The aim of the larger project is to develop sewer collection systems in communities adjacent to Minnesota’s only national park.
A letter sent to Sen. Tom Bakk by Commissioner Wade Pavleck, who serves as the joint board chairman, said the Island View project would have a positive impact in cleaning the waters of VNP.
“We would appreciate it if you could contact Commissioner Mark Phillips from DEED and encourage him to fund our application,” wrote Pavleck.
Koochiching Environmental Services Director Dale Olson has told the county board that the Island View extension is further toward development than the other projects involved in the VNP Clean Water Project.
According to DEED, funding recipients will be selected based on such criteria as number of full-time jobs created or retained, increase in the local tax base, ability to attract private investment, health and safety benefits, and evidence of a strong return on investment and cost-benefit ratio.
A summary list of the applicants, funding requests and proposed projects is available at the following link: www.PositivelyMinnesota.com/capitalgrants.
DEED is the state’s principal economic development agency, promoting business recruitment, expansion and retention, work force development, international trade and community development. For more details about the agency and its services, visit www.PositivelyMinnesota.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PositivelyMN.
