Marin projects stand to gain $4.5M from federal bill
The House of Representatives has passed a federal spending bill that would earmark $4.5 million for projects affecting Marin County, including housing for homeless veterans, transit extensions and more electric vehicle charging stations.
The spending package, which now goes to the Senate, would allocate $2 million to allow MCE — the electricity provider formerly known as Marin Clean Energy — to add more electric vehicle recharging stations and rebates to help low-income residents purchase electric vehicles.
Another $1.8 million would go toward designing and planning the proposed Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit rail extension from Windsor to Healdsburg. About $750,000 would go to Homeward Bound of Marin for the construction of its proposed housing development in Novato reserved for homeless veterans.
Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat who lives in San Rafael, said he is pleased the funding made it into the House version of the bill, but he said many changes could occur still as the bill makes its way through Congress.
“We’re hoping we can bring all this funding home, but we do have more work to do,” Huffman told the Independent Journal on Friday. The House passed the bill last week.
If the funding is approved, MCE plans to use it to add 385 level 2 electric vehicle charging stations at housing complexes and businesses in its service area of Marin, Contra Costa, Napa and Solano counties. Dawn Weisz, the chief executive, said a large portion of the funding will go toward its program that provides $3,500 rebates to lower-income residents to purchase electric vehicles. The funding would provide 3,500 rebates, Weisz said.
“We have never received federal dollars so this would be the first time,” Weisz said.
MCE launched its electric vehicle program in 2018 and has installed 900 charging ports at workplaces and housing complexes, according to Weisz. Another 600 are planned for construction in the coming six months.
“Our next goal is to start installing another 1,000 ports by March of 2023,” Weisz said. “The funding would help go towards that.”
SMART’s $1.8 million would help fund a portion of the technical studies and environmental assessments of its proposed rail and path extension from Windsor to Healdsburg. SMART operates a passenger rail service along 45 miles from Larkspur to Santa Rosa, but it seeks to provide service along a 70-mile corridor stretching to Cloverdale.
“This is just the key bottleneck in expanding smart service to Cloverdale,” Huffman said.
Originally set for completion last year, the 3-mile extension from Santa Rosa to Windsor has yet to be built because major funding was held up by a lawsuit. The project was slated to receive $40 million from bridge toll hikes under Regional Measure 3, approved by Bay Area voters in 2018, but the measure was challenged in court and is under review by the California Supreme Court.
SMART spokesman Matt Stevens said the agency hopes to be able to begin construction on the Windsor extension if it receives a $25 million federal grant it applied for. The grant would be in addition to a $10 million grant the project recently received from the state.
The actual construction cost of the Windsor extension, previously estimated at $65 million, will need to be renegotiated, Stevens said.
“We are expecting some cost escalation,” he said. “Obviously, inflation has occurred and the price of things has gone up, but we don’t know how much yet.”
As SMART works to begin construction on the Windsor extension, Stevens said the federal funding would help begin progress on the next phase to Healdsburg.
“It’s a good start,” Stevens said.
Homeward Bound of Marin would to use the $750,000 in the spending package toward the construction of 24 apartments for homeless veterans at its campus in Novato’s Hamilton neighborhood. The residences would also include on-site supportive services. Project advocates say the housing would end homelessness among veterans living in Marin.
“We’ve got a real homelessness epidemic and a housing crisis,” Huffman said. “I want to do everything I can to help those that are on the front lines of that issue. Homeward Bound is obviously a pioneer in that regard.”
Paul Fordham, Homeward Bound’s deputy executive director, said it hopes to begin construction on the estimated $13 million project in the spring. The project was set to go before the Novato Planning Commission for review at 7 p.m. Monday.
“This potential funding has a long way to go before it’s approved and we don’t know if it will be approved,” Fordham said. “This is just one step in a long process. We are appreciative of all the support we have received through Huffman’s office.”
By: Will Houston
Source: Marin IJ
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