Jennifer Symoun
Good afternoon or good morning to those of you to the West. Welcome to today's webinar on TIGER II Planning Grants and HUD Community Challenge Planning Grants. My name is Jennifer Symoun and I will moderate today's seminar. Please be advised that today's seminar is being recorded.
Today we'll have several presenters and others joining to answer questions:
Our presenters will be:
We also have staff available from the following offices to help answer questions:
I'd now like to go over a few logistical details prior to starting the seminar. Today's seminar will last 90 minutes, with 60 minutes allocated for the speakers, and the final 30 minutes for audience Question and Answer. If during the presentations you think of a question, for those of you who are in the main webinar room and see a chat area on the right of the screen, you can type it into the chat area. Please make sure you send your question to "Everyone" and indicate which presenter your question is for. For those of you who are in the overflow room and are only seeing the presentation, you will need to send your questions to freight@dot.gov. Presenters will be unable to answer your questions during their presentations, but I will start off the question and answer session with the questions sent in advance and then the questions typed into the chat box and emailed.
Finally, I would like to remind you that this session is being recorded. A file containing the audio and the visual portion of this seminar, as well as the presentation from today, will be posted to online within the next few weeks. I will send out an email once this information becomes available. We encourage you to direct others in your office that may have not been able to attend this seminar to access the recorded seminar.
We're now going to go ahead and get started. Today's topic, for those of you who just joined us, is TIGER II Planning Grants and HUD Community Challenge Planning Grants.
Beth Osborne
I will start with an overview of why HUD and DOT have combined efforts here. The purpose is to support local metropolitan regional state efforts to coordinate housing, transportation, economic, and land use policy. Recognizing this sort of coordination is inherently complex, and that clearly divided work up between the various silos is, frankly, easy, that many of these more complex projects have not had funding sources to construct them in the end. We want to make it easier, have an easy path for folks to come in with coordinated projects and get support for planning. And also, get support in a way that doesn't require local or state partners to go to different agencies for different programs with different timelines and requirements and different application procedures and therefore making it very difficult to put a broad-based coordinated plan together.
The available funds can be as high as $75 million. That includes $40 million for the Community Challenge Planning Grants and up to $35 million for the TIGER II Planning Grants. I say up to $35 million because the TIGER II were part of the overall TIGER program with $600 million for multimodal discretionary transportation grants. Congress said up to $35 million of that $65 million at DOT's discretion can be utilized for planning.
Going to the next slide, eligible applicants are basically any public entity. State and local governments, tribal governments, transit agencies, port authorities, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), other political subdivisions of State or local governments, and multi-State or multijurisdictional groupings are included. Private and nonprofit interests can participate, but they will have to do that in partnership with a government entity and the government entity will need to be the lead applicant on the application.
Going to the next slide, there's no minimum on the planning grants, but there is a maximum of $3 million per award. Grants can fund up to 80% of the project costs; however, in rural areas the statute says that can go as high as 100%. I will state, however, that in our experience through TIGER I, rural areas had very competitive applications and often exceeded minimum eligibility levels by a great deal. So throughout this, a big piece of advice we give to applicants is eligibility does not equal competitiveness. If you are looking for a competitive application you will likely go above the minimum eligible level. Also, we have distributional requirements, particularly the requirement to ensure that we have geographic diversity in the picks. Another thing we are going to be looking at is diversity in size of community we are funding. In the TIGER language Congress passed it states a certain percentage of overall TIGER dollars have to be reserved for rural areas. Since the $35 million is a part of the overall TIGER, it will be subject to all the distribution requirements of the overall TIGER law.
In terms of eligible activities, there are the transportation planning grant activities, and that is active use related to planning, preparation, or design of any sort of surface transportation project, including projects eligible for funding under the TIGER Grants such as highway or bridge projects, transit projects, passenger or freight rail project, and port. In terms of the Community Challenge Planning Grants, they can fund development of master plans or comprehensive plans to promote affordable housing located with retail and business. It can fund the development and implementation of a local corridor or district plan and strategy that promote livability and sustainability and fund revisions to zoning codes, ordinances or other mixed-use development. If you look at the funding availability there's a long comprehensive list of all that can be included and it's not an exclusive list either.
In terms of potential for combined funds, I use that term not in a legal sense, frankly. I mean, there will be applicants that might seek and receive funding from both DOT and HUD. Some examples of how someone might do this, because these two programs are not funding identical things, they are funding related things. So, for example, you might have a transit corridor being planned and you need to engineer the transit systems, and at the same time you need to create some stationary plans, do some land banking near the facility and change zoning codes to permit higher densities near that corridor. That's a perfect example of a jurisdiction currently having to go to many different pots with different timelines, rules, in order to put all of that planning together.
This is the opportunity for you to come to one place and get funding for all of it. Another example might be the relocation of a rail line that results in reconnecting a previously disconnected neighborhood and the transportation planning that goes in the relocation of the rail line and the planning to redevelop that neighborhood and use that old corridor as part of a neighborhood.
There are several examples that are in the NOFA of types of projects that might be competitive for joint funding, but it is by no means exclusive and we are hoping some applicants come up with something we have never thought of. Innovation is very welcome here.
We have a list of ineligible activities and I am sure this will be a topic of discussion in the Question and Answer. But looking through it, the source of things we are staying away from are plans that would assist businesses or industries to relocate or benefit at the expense of another community. This program is not designed to move jobs. This program is designed to create jobs; to add to the economy, not redistribute within the economy. If you go through this, you will notice we have several examples within that realm. It is also not meant to fund detailed engineering or architectural specification drawings for specific housing, capital facilities, or public works projects and also we're not looking for projects that substitute these dollars for dollars already pledged to support community development.
In terms of threshold requirements, on July 26 a pre-application is due. The pre-application can be submitted electronically to US DOT accessible through our TIGER II website. If you go to DOT's homepage, there's a link in the PowerPoint. You go to the homepage you see an icon for TIGER II. If you click on it, you will be able to access the pre-application page. It is accessible now. I highly encourage people to register as soon as possible. You can start filling pre-applications now. The pre-applications are very basic information. You are not making your case yet. It's name, rank, serial number type of thing. Most of the questions are drop-down menus or yes/no sorts of questions.
There is a requirement for a description of your project but it is meant to stay very short and just a description, not making the case yet. The pre-application will give us a chance to evaluate applicants for eligibility issues and if we do find an eligibility problem we will inform you; if you don't hear from us, that is good news. If you do, you will have a chance to cure that eligibility before final applications are submitted. You must submit a pre-application in order to submit an application, and final applications are due on August 23, 2010. Those applications must be submitted through grants.gov. For folks not familiar with grants.gov, you should register soon because it takes a little while to complete your registration. If you were to start your registration on the last day you would not be able to make the deadline.
The application cannot be more than 15 pages for the planning funds. We have a pretty specific outline we suggest in order to meet all of the narratives we would like to see. Mariia is going to talk more about that. We want to see a work plan, budget and project completion schedule and evidence of a local match. In terms of the local leveraging or matching funds, we're looking for 20% of the cost of the project; however, for transportation projects in rural areas there is no 20% match requirement. However, again, it does not hurt to exceed basic eligibility.
There will only be permission for one application per project. We do sometimes see that different governmental entities are involved in the same project. If you issue looking to apply for support for the same project, you should come in together, don't apply separately. You need to make sure there is resolution of outstanding civil rights matters for applicants for HUD Funding. For there, to get into the specifics of rating, I will turn things over to Mariia.
Mariia Zimmerman
Thanks, Beth. It's an exciting process to have two agencies working together. It is a learning experience for us, as well. What we've tried to provide within this NOFA is a broad flexibility of the kind of eligible activities that's can be funded through these grants, and also in discussing the rating factors and I would like to say a webinar is no substitute for reading the NOFA where there's a lot more discussion. We are trying to give you as much information about what are the things we will look at as we evaluate these grant applications.
So, to talk through these different rating factors, four factors we have here, rather quickly. The first rating factor is looking at purpose and outcomes. We have a 100 point score and the first 35 points are to hear from you, the applicants, how your proposed project is going to align with one or all six, or some variation of the livability principles the partnership has developed. We are not expecting a project will have to say how it's meeting all six of those, but we want to hear in the proposed project, which principles it is addressing and very importantly we want to see data that will support those outcomes you are seeking to address in your application. For example: a project to upgrade local zoning laws that haven't been updated since 1926. We believe in doing this we will be with an eye towards affordable housing unit, and are looking to evaluate the number created through this effort.
If you read through the NOFA it talks about this, perhaps an increase in mode share and how you will be evaluating that. The six principles focus on providing more transportation choices, promoting equitable, affordable housing, enhancing economic competiveness, which Beth was mentioning, how your region or community addresses the issue, supporting existing communities, coordinating and leveraging federal policies and investments with state and local policy and investments, and valuing communities and neighborhoods. This can be applicable to urban, suburban, or rural communities. It is really looking at some of the more localized or corridor level planning activities.
Factor two, addresses work plans and program evaluation. Here we really want to see potential applicants describing what are the outcomes and outputs that they are seeking to address through this funding, to give a sense of different interim activities you may be proposing to undertake to make sure you're tracking and making progress throughout the grant period. We want to see a budget proposal which would include all applicable costs; direct, indirect, and administrative costs and showing us a budget breakdown as it reflects categories, costs, tasks you propose to undertake with this funding.
Rating factor three speaks to the issue of leveraging which again as Beth mentioned is really an essential element of the partnership end of this program. I wanted to mention we are combining two different grant programs. There's an important and slightly different match issue involved with those funds. If an applicant thinks they may be seeking DOT TIGER II Planning Grant money, so if it's an activity clearly related to transportation planning, and you think it fits best in that category, you need to have a 20% non-federal cash contribution for that. It can be from private or public resources, needs to be non-federal funds. If you think the activity you are looking at is changing local land use plans, building codes, those activities discussed on the HUD Community Challenge Grants, we at HUD are not asking for a cash contribution, it can be, but it can also be an in-kind contribution, so staff time, other resources, meeting facilities, things brought to the application. We are calling that a leveraged resource. We are looking at a 20% leveraged resource; DOT is looking at 20% match resource.
So, if you are familiar with Title 23 rules there are certain in-kind rules. By staying at the minimum of the matching funds, you might meet eligibility, but this will be a highly competitive program. Rather than searching to barely make it, you should shoot to exceed that and by doing that you will not have worries about eligibility.
We will be looking for the grants that are the most competitive, and those are the ones leveraging the maximum amount they can, which relates to the issue of partnership. Thinking about other partners you can bring to the application that can help supplement the in-kind and cash contributions from the private sector, foundation community. Again in the NOFA, we listed a number of potential partners that could be brought to the table.
Rating factor four is addressing capacity issues. We want to see how well the application demonstrates the capacity to implement the proposed activities in a timely manner. We are looking for the grants that are selected to be initiated within 120 days. We want to see in this part of the application that it speaks to staff assigned to manage the project, there is experience some of the applicants may have in doing these type activities. Certainly if you are looking to do land use changes you will want to have those entities responsible for land use changes as part of your partnership.
We require a commitment to fair housing and furthering civil rights issues. That's something your application can speak to through experience or commitment. Finally, HUD has two departmental policy priorities that apply to our discretionary grants, think of this as bonus points looking at how well will the applicant address HUD's Departmental Policy priorities we have from our strategic plan. The first is focused on capacity building and knowledge sharing of state and local partners. So thinking about the proposed project you will be undertaking, what materials may be developed, what strategies may be engaged to either advance public participation, decision-making, or technical skills by those seeking the funding. Also working with others in their community and region. Secondly, to expand Cross-Cutting Policy Knowledge, sharing the knowledge, sharing the information collected. We have a heavy emphasis on performance measures and metrics. A commitment that looks at monitoring and sharing lessons learned throughout and after the project as well.
Looking at the evaluation process, we worked jointly to develop the NOFA and will work jointly to evaluate the applications we receive. We will have representatives from DOT and EPA and HUD reviewing the applications. Each will evaluate how well they align the factors I just discussed and assigned a score from 1 to 100. The scoring system will not determine the specific projects that will be selected for funding, but will be used to generate a list of highly-recommended projects. Those that meet this threshold will be advanced to a senior level review team. They will be the team making the funding recommendations, looking at each project's merits again, the rating factors discussed before, get the first review, still in place, not new information we are looking at.
Then in selecting projects for funding, DOT and HUD will take measures to ensure an equitable distribution of funds, including requirements we have to look at how funds are allocated between urban, rural, regional, and modal equity as well. We want to make sure that these grants selected are achievable and help alignment with the purposes of the two programs. We reserve the right to fund less than the amount that may be requested, and projects may be selected for the Community Challenge Grant or the TIGER II Planning Grant or in some instances may be selected for both. As Beth said earlier, only submit one application per project. You may be applying for more than one project in different applications, but we want to see partnerships around those submitted.
Looking to the administration of grants, we will issue these as cooperative agreements. Each of the TIGER II Planning Grants will be administered by one of DOT's modal administrations. If you have a transit project, you will work with the Federal Transit Administration. Likewise, if it is under Federal Highway's jurisdiction, you will work with them. The Community Challenge Planning Grants will be administered by HUD through the Office of Stutaniable Housing and Communities. Grant recipients must apply with the applicable federal requirements. For those receiving HUD grants, compliance with fair housing and civil rights laws referenced in the NOFA is the general section which we also have a link to if you need additional information about those.
Reporting requirements: the period performance shall not exceed 36 months, we want all funds awarded, obligated by September 30, 2012. Applicants should be prepared to initiate eligible activities within 120 days within the effective date of the grant award.
We are anticipating this will be a highly competitive grant program, that's reflected by the number of people registering for today's webinar. The maximum grant amount is $3 million, so again think about that as you are looking at projects you want to be submitting for funding. And again, a quick synopsis here, think about how to make your application competitive, think about what we talked about eligibility. Is you application addressing the criteria and outcomes we discussed in the NOFA relating to the proposed activity? Also, it is important to show how it supports the principles and how you will be evaluating progress toward the outcomes. Certainly looking for clarity in the applications, heavy emphasis on leveraging investments, partnerships, and really, again, seeking funding to see what kind of innovative strategies can be pursued locally and at the regional and state level to help share the knowledge throughout the country of new strategies to help break down silos, do things in more effective and efficient ways, to partner together and address some of the barriers and challenges we're facing.
For additional information, we have on the HUD and DOT page web site, http://www.hud.gov/sustainability and for DOT, http://www.dot.gov/recovery/ost/TIGERii/.
If you go to DOT.gov you will find it much easier. Go to either website, you will get the link to the pre-application website, due by July 26. We have developed a Frequently Asked Questions list. We have been getting a lot of questions since the grants were released last week and you can go here, it's a good place to check first before you e-mail us to see if your question already been addressed, the answer may be there on the website. We have fact sheets about the program and may get questions on this last week, we also at HUD announced a Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant. We have a side by side on the program to help you look at which of the two would be the most appropriate. With the TIGER II Planning Grant and Community Challenge Grant, we are focusing on some of the more localized strategies. The Regional Planning Grants are regional, more integrated, comprehensive plans. We are going to be doing updating with tweeting, additional questions, and answers come onboard. We will have additional webinars with external stakeholders, very happy to do those. So e-mail us, contact us if we can be of assistance in getting you additional information.
Question
With that, we can open up for questions and we see there are already a number of questions folks have sent. Can a local government receive reimbursement under the Community Challenge Grant Program for preparing a plan for high density transit oriented development in front of affordable housing if the planning process has a specific timeline of completion that is before the award date?
Answer
That is a good question. The short answer is that no, the Federal Government must authorize work prior to an applicant expending the funding for which they are getting reimbursed, so no you cannot use the funding to retroactively pay for something you had done. You can absolutely use the funding if there is planning work you want to do for transit-oriented development, particularly to provide assurances for affordable housing within that TOD, but that needs to be for activities you are planning to undertake, not that you have already undertaken.
Question
The next question is: In almost all cases Federal funds cannot be used to match other Federal grant programs. Is this the case under the TIGER Planning Grant initiative?
Answer
Basically the answer is yes. There's some wiggle room at HUD, however, as I said before, in our experience with TIGER I and the overwhelming interest in the program, we found that it was much more competitive to have truly non-Federal dollars on the table. Eligible does not equal competitive. I encourage people to look for non-competitive dollars to show there's a large and diverse group of stakeholders willing to put their money, time, assets and creativity toward the project.
Question
Does the $10 million apply to planning grants? There is no differentiation in any of the materials which have been prepared, but that seems like a huge amount for a planning grant.
Answer
If you read the Notice of Funding Availability for Planning Grants, it explicitly states there's a $3 million maximum, there's no minimum for planning grants.
Question
Does each agency need to register with grants.gov, or only the lead agency?
Answer
Whoever submits the application needs to register.
Question
A representative from DOT indicated that the DOT wants to present a unified application for a portion of the funding. Is the process open to the metropolitan planning organization to apply for TIGER II funds outside DOT's application?
Answer
I am not sure I understand the question. If it's whether or not the MPO can apply whether or not the DOT is applying, the answer is absolutely, you have direct access to this program through USDOT, but all applications need to come through the TIGER II pre-application site grants.gov
I think that they might be asking if our DOT might be submitting an application for a project, but we want to submit for the same project, that answer is no. Again, it is one application per project.
Yeah, and frankly, even if we were to permit separate applications for the same project, by applying separately you have already exposed there's a great deal of disharmony in the project and it's not setting up a terribly competitive application.
Question
Would the total funding available for planning grants be $35 million for DOT plus $40 million from HUD?
Answer
That is the maximum that could be available. At DOT we do not have to put $35 million towards planning. We have the authority to use up to $35 million of the $600 million through TIGER II for planning. We also have large pressures in terms of the competitiveness for planning and construction dollars and pretty strict distributional equity requirements, urban/rural equity requirements and modal equity requirements. As a result, we may find we put all $35 million authorized toward planning, but it could be $34, $33, $30; it is really unclear at this point.
Question
Will be there minimum and maximum amounts for the percentage of award in each state?
Answer
No this, this is not a formula program, it's a competitive program. It's also a small program. There may be some states that get no money and some states may get multiple grants. It will depend on the quality of the application that's come into us. We have regional distribution requirements in terms of equity. What we did in TIGER I, divided the country into four region and made sure there was equitable distribution between the northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest, but not guaranteed a certain percentage for each state. Under TIGER II, this will not apply to a planning grant alone, but should there be a construction grant that reaches into the higher parts of eligibility, no state can receive more than $150 million through the TIGER II program. If your state has somehow secured, on its own, $150 million for construction grants it will not be eligible for any further planning grants or any kind of TIGER II grants. I don't expect that will be the case in anyplace.
Question
Would these be subject to different federal overlay requirements? Would the HUD funds be subject CDBG program which the appropriation were a part of?
Answer
There are distinctions we tried to call out in the NOFA, but for instance if you are receiving funding from the HUD Community Challenge Program you need to meet the HUD requirements. A couple to call out are those related to fair housing, and civil rights issues that we have within and are discussed in the NOFA. There are some distinctions there, but those grant programs, if you are awarded, up need to meet the reporting requirements and other federal grant requirements that each of our agencies have.
Question
For the 20% match for DOT Planning Grants, are in-kind contributions allowed? It is clear that they are for the HUD Community Challenge Planning Grants, but not clear for DOT. It should seem that the cost sharing requirements should be the same.
Answer
To start with the last sentence first, there are many things that should be similar across federal agencies, but there are legal restriction that's prevent that. To the extent the law doesn't allow the program to be identically, we will be following the law. To the extent of reducing barriers, we will do our very best to reduce barriers. In terms of DOT, there is a pretty robust law and practice around what in-kind contributions are permitted and what aren't. I will ask for help around the table to chime in if I am incorrect, but for example, if you are donating a right-of-way, that can be included in the match, but again, if you are trying to come in at the bare minimum, you will reach eligibility, but you are very likely to be competitive. I encourage folks to think in terms of competitive. If you have a competitive grant application in terms of match, you are not going to have to worry about eligibility.
Question
If in-kind contributions are allowed, for example could the resources used to fund a BRAC transportation planner be allowed as a in-kind contribution, this project would include an area where the transportation infrastructure is impacted by a new BRAC building?
Answer
Yeah, this is Mariia, certainly from the HUD perspective, if the application were to be addressing land use changes, planning, visioning, activities, building code changes that may be involved with updating a building built in 1946 with one that needs to be 21st century ready, all of those kinds of activities would be eligible for this funding, and if you wanted to reference the staff salaries for your BRAC transportation planner, that would be eligible under the HUD funding.
Question
Please address if TIGER I winners will not be discriminated against for their wins in TIGER II in they submit a new project.
Answer
You are eligible for TIGER II, and certainly will not be discriminated against. I can say that there were 51 winners of TIGER I funding out of 1,400 applications. It would be very difficult to justify giving more money to a jurisdiction that had not spent down their first award, not to say it won't happen, but to have one project underway and not completed and get a second grant when there are thousands of other applicants who haven't gotten their first would be difficult for us to do.
Question
Is the max for TIGER II $3 million?
Answer
The max for TIGER Planning is $3 million. The max for construction is $200 million for one project, but $150 million for one state. That may sound confusing, but the point is, big projects should not benefit one state. If you look at the TIGER I winners, the biggest project was $105 million. We could have gone as high as $300 million, the biggest grant we gave was $105 million, benefited four or five states. If you look at a project like CREATE, which was one of our largest, it can benefit almost half the country. The largest project is much larger than anything needs to be in one state. So to recap, the maximum per state is $150 million, the maximum for a project is $200 million and the maximum for planning is $3 million.
Question
A follow-up which just came in: is the minimum amount for TIGER II construction $10 million?
Answer
It is $10 million except in rural areas, in rural it's $1 million.
Question
What definition is used for rural areas?
Answer
For rural areas the definition is based on the Census Bureau definition of urbanized areas. An area over with 50,000 people, as defined by the Census Bureau would be considered urban. If you are outside of the urbanized area, that includes areas that the Census Bureau defines as rural or urban clusters, it would be considered rural for the purpose of the TIGER II program.
Question
Why is no match required for rural areas?
Answer
That is a question for Congress. Congress felt rural areas are particularly struggling at this time, and would be less likely to come up with a match. There probably will be examples of those. In TIGER I, there were really robust applications from rural America that went well beyond a 20% match that often the Federal funding was the final piece to a very large project, and I can also say it was a great surprise, but impressive surprise in TIGER I that the amount of match being offered did not tend to relate to the wealth of the community. Very poor communities came in with extremely robust matches and communities doing much better sometimes came in with no match at all. In terms of being competitive, even some really struggling communities were able to come up with very substantial matches.
The NOFA discusses this as well, evaluating leveraging of resources, recognizing that trend that Beth just mentioned, in addition to looking at over-match, additional leveraging beyond the 20%. We will take into consideration per capita income in the applicable jurisdiction relative to the metropolitan average recognizing the commitment that some communities might have to make bringing funds to the table.
Question
I can answer the next one. Will the PowerPoint be available after this webinar?
Answer
Yes, the PowerPoint is distributed sometime after this webinar. In addition, this is being recorded; we will have the recording up in the next few weeks. It has to go through a review before it is posted. An e-mail will be sent out once available.
Question
Does the match for DOT allow for a soft match?
Answer
I think we answered this earlier. If you have specific questions about match you can reach out to the division offices for Federal Highway or the regional offices for Federal Transit, they work on exactly what can be included outside of a cash match. If you are desperately seeking to hit the 20% threshold you will have an eligible application but it is unlikely to be competitive.
Question
Is the preparation of environmental impact reports eligible under this program?
Answer
It is eligible.
Question
What is meant by a corridor strategy under eligible activities for the Challenge Grant? Would implementation of a transportation project such as non-motorized be eligible?
Answer
Looking at this from the HUD perspective, with the Challenge Grants, we definitely are looking at those corridor strategies and jurisdictional strategies and other localized strategies. These are not implementation strategies, but help with planning of the strategy. For example maybe we have a bike-way, understand there are land use changes or community visioning, other things to help develop that plan and that strategy, but these grants are not for implementation activities, so it's not to pay for the pavement to create the bike path, for instance, to carry that example further.
Question
Can HUD funds be used for land banking?
Answer
These are funds that can be used to support strategies to bring affordable housing to areas that have not had affordable housing opportunities, close to suburban job centers. We are allowing one of the eligible categories, planning, establishing and maintaining acquisition funds and/or land banks for development, re-development and revitalization that would preserve the development for affordable house. Yes, that is an eligible activity. Given the highly competitive nature of this program and the grant amount, with a maximum grant of $3 million, keeping that in mind in terms of thinking about what could be funded with this source of funding.
Question
Is the match requirement 20% of requested amount or 20% of the total project cost? These are two different figures.
Answer
Well, let me put it this way. Your total project may be much larger than the portion of the project you are seeking help for. If there's a phase one you are only seeking Federal assistance for, it would be 20% of the cost of phase one, but if 20% of generally project cost.
It's 20% of the requested funding. Just looking through, at least on the HUD side it says that.
It's very difficult; I am not used to seeing too many requests for funding that are outside of the project cost. Independent utility: if there's a way to break down your project into phases or discreet portion, that portion has to have independently utility, important for the construction side where might center a project or road way that can be built in segments, but it cannot be a road way that would just end in gravel. It would have to be a road way that goes from someplace to someplace, and at the end of the project could accept traffic on it. Looking for the 20%, it would be of that segment that has independent utility. But if you are asking for 30% of the cost for federal dollars, you are in good shape.
I think the other issue around match is we need documentation of it. Again, with the in-kind it can't be just to say we're going to be getting this and people are going to be contributing this, there needs to be documentation that, that leverage resource, cash contribution, you need documentation to verify and support that.
In terms of the guarantees, to the extent there are major actions that will have to take place to secure those dollars, for example, you may have a state senator who told you they would get an earmark for funding in the next fiscal year. That is not going to be considered a terribly secure federal match. This is money that needs to be ready to go when the award is made.
Question
How will DOT and HUD measure a project's ability to create jobs versus move them?
Answer
This is not an easy thing to do. This is something that's always a struggle, but we try to do an analysis of it. We found this was an area of particular concern with port projects and the first round of TIGER where one port was looking to increase business but turned out it looked like it would be at the expense of another port. We will have to be very careful and do our homework on that.
Question
What happens if two pre-applications received for the same project?
Answer
We will let both applicants know that we received an application from two entities from the same project and give you the chance to fix that before final applications come in. If they aren't fixed, frankly, we won't need to disregard one or the other. As mentioned before, it doesn't send a message of great stakeholder cooperation if you can't coordinate even on the application.
Question
Is there any penalty for submitting a project under HUD and TIGER II?
Answer
Not only is there not a penalty, that's exactly what we are looking for. The point of going out on this together is to encourage people to think more holistically and not separate out transportation and housing.
We are not asking applicants to say I am submitting for this pot of funding, or this, but tell us about your project, tell us about the activities you are undertaking and as we are reviewing we will look to say this fits more under Community Challenge this is more TIGER II, this addresses both, something we do as a joint grant award given. Applicants are not being asked to choose which they are applying for, but keeping in mind if it's a transportation-focused project, keep in mind the match issue. The point being this is going to be very competitive and you can be competitive in a variety of ways.
If you need funding from the Community Challenge and TIGER II Planning Grants, make sure you make the application in the same place. There's one application per project. We are strongly, like I said, encouraging folks to look at a project as one project with the land use, economic development, transportation parts of the same project, we encourage those to come together.
Question
If you are planning jointly for TIGER and Challenge Grants, do you want us to submit one application and does the $3 million maximum apply for the joint application?
Answer
Yes and yes. Apply together, and the $3 million maximum applies to the joint application. You may feel like therefore there's benefit to applying separately, but that would hurt you in the rating factors because you would not be coordinating your transportation, land use and other infrastructure planning and would hurt you on the most substantive part of the application.
Question
Can CDBG funds be used for non-federal or local share as specified in CDBG regulations for TIGER and or sustainable communities?
Answer
Yes, it can, but as we said many times, the extent to which you can identify non-federal dollars is going to be to your benefit.
Question
Can a project receive both urban sustainable funding and TIGER II funding? Or is the project only allowed to draw only on one source? When wills urban recipients be announced?
Answer
Yes, you can receive both. They will they be announced soon.
Question
Can federal funds be used to match the HUD part of an application?
Answer
Yes, they can be, I would reiterate Beth's comments, but think being ways to show additional resources being brought to the table, additional leveraging, so you are making the most competitive application that you can.
Question
What sorts of in-kind contributions are acceptable for a DOT TIGER II Planning Grant?
Answer
I think we discussed this a couple of times already.
Question
I am frustrated with this program because trains are not feasible in my community and buses are not economical. In Utah how do I tap into these funds to link together?
Answer
I am not sure where in Utah you are writing from. Utah is actually one of our most successful areas in terms of streetcar, light rail, regional rail, in livable communities. Salt Lake City down to the Provo region is my favorite example in the country. However, this program is about coordinating transportation, economic development, land use, and other infrastructure investments that can and often have a transit issue. It is not always a transit issue. It can be about strengthening a main street. If you look at the TIGER I awards, there's a town of 2,900 people in Montana called White Fish that asked for funding to recreate a main street. If you combined those sorts of efforts, you can see a description on DOT's website, with an effort to change the zoning codes in the area to allow for mixed use development, and really enhance that small town back to its more traditional town-centered feel, that would be eligible for funding and an impressive application. The movement of a freight rail corridor to reconnect a neighborhood or if you have an area developing quickly and you have residential neighborhoods that conflict with an area that's used strictly for freight movement and you need to do redesign in terms of where freight traffic travels and where people live, that would be eligible. There are many things in this program that go beyond transit that would be interesting and competitive, that would benefit the livability of the community.
Question
Does Section 3 apply to both project tracks?
Answer
Eligibility information, yes if they are referring to Section 3 in the NOFA, yes it does apply. The NOFA also talks about some of those distinctions that exist between TIGER II and the Community Challenge Planning Grant. Also, gives more flavor for what Beth was talking about in terms of the breadth of activities that are eligible activities, both the transportation side as well as looking at retrofitting, updating building codes, land use, district development plans, and other things that can be eligible activities under this.
This doesn't answer the question, but does raise a particular issue that we do expect to give awards separately. There will be a pure transportation projected which will only get transportation dollars, and a pure HUD project which is just HUD funded and we hope there will be a sub-set funded by both of us.
Question
Is equity a consideration for TIGER II applications as well?
Answer
TIGER I was a Recovery Act Program. It was focused not just job development, but in economic distressed communities. This is not a Recovery Act program, but the way we are evaluating projects is pretty much the same. We are still looking to create jobs across the country and particularly communities struggling, so yes, equity will be something we consider.
Question
Will there be a list of who has applied at the pre-application step? If we are developing a regional strategy, it is important to coordinate resources. There are so many local governments, hard to know who is applying.
Answer
We do not expect to create a list. We strongly encourage local governments working on projects that might cross jurisdictional boundaries to reach out to neighbors, come in together, rather than throw an application in and then let us let you know.
Question
Will applications be subject to Executive Order 12372? Will our state clearinghouse in Sacramento play a major role of sorting out the applicants?
Answer
I think we are going to have to get back to you on that because I am not certain what Executive Order that is, but we will get an answer back to you. This may be related to what happened last time around where some states were more active in terms of coordinating. This program is open to all government entities and they do not need to go through state approval process. It obviously will do better the more stakeholders are supported and involved; however, if this is an issue where it's a local priority but not necessarily a regional or state priority, it does not mean you won't match up well with a federal priority criteria. So feel free to apply directly to us on the merits.
Question
Please define silos.
Answer
In this sense we're not talking agricultural silos, I would say, growing up on a farm, but really just reflecting the institutional silos we've had where DOT programs have been separate from HUD and in some instances worked at cross-purposes with one another. The commitment to work modally across silos, really integrating transit with the street networks and freight facilities. We have heard a lot over the past year from people who are really wanting to advance livable community, sustainable projects, but say there are barriers that are faced in how to bring together the county transportation folks with the city land use planners and others. We are trying to work here across our federal silos, federal divisions, as well as integrate strategies and make resources available to communities trying to bring together land use planners, economic development planners and others to think about these integrated approaches.
Question
Are joint applications approved separately? Can HUD approve and DOT deny?
Answer
We could. There could be a project that is applying for funding from both HUD and DOT and a determination that while it is not a project we think is worth or appropriate for co-investment, one of the agencies may see it's worth one agency investing. But we will review jointly and make those determinations together.
Question
What documentation would be effective to verify the 20% match?
Answer
I would encourage you to look at the NOFA. It has language that specifically responds to this, towards the end of the NOFA. I will briefly say such evidence could be in the form of letters of commitment, understandings, other signed agreements; it should be signed, look official, say what the commitment is. How will they ensure the commitments to sub-grantees will be honored and executed upon an award from DOT or HUD. Please do look at the NOFA for more specific language on that. If it's in-kind contributions, again, we want that to be given a monetary value based on the local market value. For instance, how much is that staff person's time worth in the local market? Again, check the NOFA for more details on that.
Question
We are going to switch to questions e-mailed in. The first one I got is: applying to both TIGER II Planning Grants as well as HUD Community Challenge Grants, would that not be two applications. How would you handle when applying with the 20% match for the DOT plus the 20% match for the HUD?
Answer
I think what we are seeing is, don't think of it as applying for one or the other. You submitting one application and you will be demonstrating your match. If it's for an application for an activity you think has a heavy transportation focus we recommend you really make sure you have that cash contribution in hand and could consider the over match, leverage resources you bring to make it a competitive application. If you are submitting an application and it's really focused around updating building codes to support energy efficiency that would be a HUD funded activity. We're not asking you to submit, saying this is a TIGER II grant. We are asking you submit for this joint funding program.
That's well-put. You have a project; you are going to submit the project which has HUD and DOT components and put together your 20% match for that project. This is a reason this will be an incredibly oversubscribed program. Those putting together competitive applications will not be in most cases just skirting the eligibility rule.
Question
Will applicants be notified if they are disqualified in the pre-application phase?
Answer
You will not be disqualified. If there's an eligibility problem we will let you know what it is when you submit. Unless the applicants themselves are an ineligible applicant, you will not be disqualified. If it's a particular problem with your application up have a chance to cure it before your application.
Question
The NOFA said the 16th is the pre-application date but the webinar said July 26th.
Answer
The original TIGER II constructive NOFA said the 16th. Through the preparation of the Planning Grants we ended up publishing the joint NOFA a little later than planned and wanted to give a folks a month's notice before the pre-application was due. We have moved the pre-application date back to the 26th. You have until the 26th for any TIGER II, Construction or Planning, and the HUD Community Challenge Grant to apply.
The pre-application date is correct, but read the NOFA. Applicants who have outstanding civil rights matters are an issue that may make you ineligible for funding. When you pre-apply, you are stating that you do not have outstanding civil rights issues and that is something that HUD's Office of Equal Opportunity Housing will check to make sure that is in fact correct.
Question
If a project is to redevelop an area with an abundant amount of affordable housing, but has a real need for more and better housing choices, how should these be presented?
Answer
That would be, again, look through the NOFA, some of the language, but in terms of the first factor, which is speaking to how the project addresses the livability principles that speak to expanding housing choice. Provide a narrative of what are the issues within your community, give data to support the case you are making, and certainly HUD is committed to fair housing opportunities looking at deconcentrating areas of poverty, as well as bringing opportunities, economic and social opportunities to a variety of households. So, I would just encourage you to look through that, make your case and have your data that is supporting that as well.
Question
Can an MPO apply for a Challenge Grant for the same project they are applying for a Sustainable Communities Planning Grant?
Answer
Oh yes, good question. Yes they can. As mentioned last week, HUD announced two planning grant programs; one is the Regional Sustainable Communities Planning Grant program. Absolutely, MPO could submit an application for projects to fund under the TIGER II Community Challenge Grant Program and also be part of a consortium that may be applying the Regional Planning Grant. The Regional Planning Grant also has an August 23 deadline; certainly you would want to look at coordinating those activities.
Question
What funds, or plans, will HUD and DOT have for implementation of these multiple planning grants?
Answer
Speaking from the HUD perspective, our secretary, Secretary Donovan likes to say we have $150 million program, but its part of a larger $44 billion program. Again, we have heard over and over from communities wanting to address some of their local barriers, to better utilize the much larger grant programs we have, and I think that's really what we're looking to do with these programs, support those local strategies that can help set the table for future investments in affordable housing and community development funds.
I think the thing we are trying to accomplish is to give state and local governments the tools to determine the best way to spend the money they are already given through federal programs. So utilization of the various formula grant program that exist, through HUD or DOT or any of the other competitive grant programs we have, certainly there are construction grants from the TIGER program, though again incredibly oversubscribed, and that is very attractive to look at those competitive grant programs, but people should not forget the overwhelming bulk of dollars go out through formula, all over the country, folks need to best utilize those dollars as well.
Question
If land banking is an eligible expense is land acquisition by community land trust an eligible expense?
Answer
We may need to get back to you on that, but my first reaction to that question would be both to look at list of eligible applicants, I don't know that a community land trust would be eligible to submit an application. They may need to submit that in conjunction with one of the eligible recipients such as the local jurisdictions. If you want to e-mail that question to sustainablecommunities@hud.gov, we can get you more clear answer on that question.
Question
The presenter said that the maximum TIGER II grant was $3 million. What is the maximum for a Challenge Grant? Can you request funding for both grants together, and in that case what is the maximum?
Answer
We addressed this one earlier.
Question
Does a project that weighs heavily on livability and reducing our dependence on oil rate higher than a simple road project?
Answer
I think there's a belief out there that because there may have been road projects from time to time that don't necessarily assist in environmental sustainability that all road projects come with that, flaw, and that's just not true. There are road projects that enhance community livability in a very strong way. Several of them were funded in TIGER I, projects that establish main streets, establish strong boulevards where there can be a vibrant town center. We also need to remember that non-motorized transportation usually travels on the infrastructure around roadways or in roadways, and that a huge amount of our transit relies on the roadways. A true complete street is the most valuable tool a community can have. A well designed roadway may be one of the most competitive projects we see.
Question
Is an intermodal transit facility project with a parking garage and a public plaza in one of the most distressed communities eligible for TIGER II?
Answer
It is certainly eligible. Let me address one thing there. In TIGER I, we found very impressive applications that talked about an overall downtown redevelopment, included intermodal facility, mixed development, affordable housing, bike paths and all kinds of things. The funding they were seeking was only a parking garage. Not terribly competitive applications. We did fund some, but only a portion of a much broader range of projects.
Question
Can I apply for a HUD grant for a plan that involves transit, housing, and energy and then apply for the TIGER II for transit capital project, parking garage design and construction project?
Answer
Yes. I think, if the question is can they apply for the TIGER II Capital Grant and a HUD Community Challenge, yes. You can do it for the same project, if you have two different projects, wholly unrelated to one another, one happens to fall more within HUD and other transportation, absolutely. The restriction on the application is for the same project. We don't want multiple applications for the same project. This is not for funding capital, it's the plan. We are talking about today; HUD and DOT are collaborating on planning grants. There are capital grants also available within TIGER II.
Question
The NOFA stated that the TIGER II needed to have a large cost benefit analysis. Who are where can we go to get the specifics.
Answer
The cost benefit analysis is necessary for the Construction Grant, not for Planning Grants. If you are looking for cost benefit with regards to TIGER II Construction Grant there's a great deal of guidance in the construction NOFA published on June 1 in the Federal Register, and on DOT's website. If you have further questions there's contact information available in the NOFA. There was an outreach session, and some help has been provided in the past also accessible through the website.
Question
The NOFA states TIGER II needs to have an impact on the nation or region. Can a region be defined as two or more cities or will it need more impact to be considered?
Answer
Yes, it could be a couple cities; it could be a project greatly beneficial to one city. I recommend people to go look at the 51 project that were successful in the first round of TIGER. They vary greatly in scope, community size, project size, all the way from $105 million freight rail project that covers a huge region of the country to a $3 million rural roadway grant that will be incredibly valuable to the community it touches.
Question
Will the project need to be implemented within a particular time frame?
Answer
We said they need to be initiated within 120 days of the grant being awarded and for a period of 36 months. Keep in mind TIGER funding must be fully obligated by September 30, 2012.
Question
We have several plans that need to be meshed to make a comprehensive plan - is this an eligible project?
Answer
It depends on what sort of plans you are talking about. If you are talking about a regional plan in terms of the regional planning grant program you need to look at that program. If you are talking about a number local planning like neighborhood planning or corridor planning, that would be more appropriate for this grant program.
Question
If we are in the first year of a two year project, can we use the remaining funding as a match?
Answer
Yes, I believe you can.
Question
Land use planning usually offers no guarantee of outcome, zoning or comprehensive plan process and is highly political in nature. How can we guarantee we meet the intentions of the public legislative process?
Answer
This is a really important question. What we tried to set out in this grant program, particularly on the land use side, is for communities themselves to come up with the land use issue they are trying to address and think can be addressed through this grant program. To think about how would you be able to evaluate success on that. We are not saying here is how you must, tell us how you are doing XY and Z. We are leaving it up to communities to come up with metrics to demonstrate success along the continuum. Updating land use plans, it may be an activity or seeking funding to initiate that process and go through the process, and an outcome may be we will have a final plan as the outcome of this process, or we will be updating zoning to allow for more multifamily housing, allow for more mixed income housing, you may be able to demonstrate through a plan that does have those measures you have been able to show through the process. Thinking about where your community is at, thinking about what are the land use issues you are trying to address. It may be you don't have the appropriate land use to make transit in your community so you are looking to do changes to help generate more mixed use compact development. Maybe on freight side you would be thinking about land use around ports facilities. We are leaving that up to communities to come up with those metrics
Also recognizing that obviously if you are trying to change zoning codes it may involve a vote of a council, one way you can demonstrate a high likelihood of success is strong stakeholder involvement, public involvement and a large number of elected representatives supporting and working to implement the project you are applying for funding for.
Question
If a project is in a rural area must an applicant specify which category they are applying for? What is the best approach?
Answer
Nobody needs to specify, HUD and DOT will figure out what we will fund and out of whose coffers it will come. That is true whether urban or rural community.
Question
What definition are you using when it comes to affordable housing? 50% of AMI? 60%, 80%?
Answer
We actually, again, similar to the land use question; we are recognizing communities are in different places, have different affordable housing needs. We have not set the threshold to say which percentage that is, and are looking to communities through the narrative of what you are trying to achieve, you are working towards achieving, and identifying the issues. Hopefully that answers that question.
Question
What name do we use to connect a HUD tweet?
Answer
We are working to set up our tweet feed. We are not yet tweeting, but if you go to https://www.hud.gov/sustainability check us frequently, for additional information and updates on these programs, also once we start tweeting away you can sign up for it there as well.
Question
Can you explain how for construction grants the maximum is $200 million when a state cannot receive more than $150 million?
Answer
One of the silos we need to break down is the state by state one. The fact is we barely look at projects that cross state lines. This restriction is created to make us look more broadly. So while a project can be as big as $200 million, no more than $150 can go to one state; therefore would have to benefit at least two states.
Question
Can a complete revision of a 32 year old zoning ordinance be considered for a Challenge Grant?
Answer
Yes, they can.
Question
We will move back to questions typed into the chat area. Is there an expected date for announcing TIGER II awards which will start the 120 days to initiate work?
Answer
There's not a specific date expected right now, but the Secretaries have told us they would like to make the announcements in October.
Question
Can TIGER II Planning Grants be used to complete NEPA documents?
Answer
They can, it is an eligible expense, but it will not be the most competitive application.
Question
Are transportation mode projects eligible (mixed use and transit stops integrated)?
Answer
The answer is absolutely for the planning. If you want to ask for funding to do some of the work within the construction, it is probably eligible there too.
Question
Could one urban block constitute a community, existing elements of commercial residential and in a dense urban setting?
Answer
Yes there shouldn't be any problem, however, look at who is eligible to apply, so you couldn't have just a ward or a neighborhood organization apply for the funding. It would have to be with the local jurisdiction, but the local jurisdiction could say we are applying for the project within this one block area. Think about how competitive that may be, but it's certainly eligible.
I would think for that to be eligible it would have to be a redevelopment of a block that is a very important part, an anchor of the community, maybe a smaller community it is the town center, center to be a very important block.
Question
Earlier in the presentation there was mention of a 120 day limitation. Can you elaborate?
Answer
NOFA says you need to be prepared to start work within 120 days of award for planning.
Question
Will there be a webinar for the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program?
Answer
Yes, there will be. We have been approached by external stakeholders, and we have started to do some webinars with external stakeholders. We are also planning to do a HUD-sponsored webinar later this month. We do not yet have that date set, but again I would encourage you to like at http://www.hud.gov/sustainability/ for information on when that is scheduled. For those who may have pre-applied for the HUD Regional Planning Grants, we will be sending information to those to notify when that webinar takes place. There is information on our website right now providing additional background and Frequently Asked Questions on that program as well. No need to wait for the webinar to get some information on that.
Question
If multiple rural areas apply in one grant, does that make their application more competitive?
Answer
In any case where regions can come together, it makes the application more competitive. The more stakeholder representation, the more multi-jurisdictional representation, the more collaboration across traditional silos; the more competitive your application is going to be.
Question
Where is the side by side comparison?
Answer
I don't have the website in front of me, but I believe on the HUD website, https://www.hud.gov/sustainability/, scroll down on the page it should be sort of in the middle lower part of the page, there should be a click you can go so that says something like "more information about the grants." If you cannot find it through that poor description I just gave, you can e-mail sustainablecommunities@hud.gov and we will e-mail you back the link, may take a day or two just because of the number of e-mails we are getting from folks. I am sorry, we are working to make our web site more user friendly. It should be there if you click on information about either of the two grant programs we released.
Question
Is it okay to submit more than one application as long as each is for a different project?
Answer
Yes, absolutely it is. But recognizing how competitive this program would be, we would recommend picking your top one or two priority and really focusing on getting the application just right for those. In the TIGER I round, we had applicants that put in a dozen or more applications and in most cases the quality suffered because they were trying to stretch to do so many instead of focusing on creating one or two of the best applications they can.
Good point. When looking at priorities, think in terms of federal priorities made clear through the two notices. We are looking at federal priorities. The fact it's a state or local government top priority is a good thing to know, but is only compelling so far as it is also a federal priority as laid out in the notices.
Question
For match resources, is there a time period where match and leveraging is limited to? Does the match need to be concurrent with the project or can we use dollars spent in 2010 as a match?
Answer
Very, very important question and something I should have addressed earlier. Previously spent dollars do not count as a match. Your match must be available on the work that is going to occur when the grant is made and must be available at that time.
The point about this is not funding through a place other funding you may have committed. If you were planning to use CDBG money to do a project, now saying we are going to move that over and use that money now as a match. It's not to be replacing funds, it's to be additive to effort going on underway in your community.
To make clear, if there's a project currently underway, you are requesting funding to complete it, it's an ongoing project, then that would be okay. Not if you built a transit line that opened last year, nothing from those expenditures can be counted towards the extension later.
Question
Who can we call to find out how to improve our TIGER I application if we want to resubmit it.
Answer
Well, Robert Mariner is sitting at the table and his name and e-mail are included in the NOFA. This mean his phone has been ringing off the hook and e-mail is full non-stop. Nonetheless, you can absolutely reach out. We have had a number of meetings with folk who had submitted TIGER I applications. One thing we would encourage you to do is go to our website and you can find links to previous webinars which talk specifically about the construction side of the notice and what makes projects competitive. This includes a pretty long Question and Answer session which covers a great deal of questions. I would also tell you to read through the descriptions of the 51 projects that got selected last time. We received 1,400 applications requesting $60 billion dollars when we had a total pot of $1.5 billion. This time around we think it is going to be more popular, and we do not have as much in funding. We expect the quality of applications to be much greater this time.
Question
Two applications lower our chances to get a grant?
Answer
No, the thing that would hurt you is if you did a large number of applications which were stretching your staff thin rather than focusing on the top one or two priorities.
Question
Now I'm going back to the questions type intoed the chat box. Can you elaborate on level of details required for design that is eligible?
Answer
The level of design which is eligible is broad. We are looking at full range of design activities that lead towards the type of project eligible in TIGER II. So it is pretty broad to the types of design what is eligible.
Question
What are the odds of money being provided to plan for housing on a project that may have been chosen for infrastructure in TIGER I?
Answer
I think there's nothing that would prohibit or make a grant application ineligible if it was saying we received funding for TIGER I to do this investment, now we are seeking funding to do neighborhood planning, corridor planning, to provide mixed income housing, redevelopment. That is completely consistent with what we are trying to fund through this grant program, so that's absolutely very much an eligible activity and reflects the kind of shared interest DOT and HUD have in the program
Question
Can you elaborate on what is meant by implementation of plans as an eligible activity? This sounds like we can use these funds to fund construction component from existing plans, is that right?
Answer
That is not correct on the HUD side. What we're looking at in terms of implementation of plans is, oftentimes there may be a great plan that gets adopted, particularly if you look at the regional scale, the regional plan may be dependent on local jurisdictions updating their zoning, building codes. Say we have a regional plan, and we're planning on doing a town center urban center, but zoning isn't in place to allow for a mixed use develop or other things. Because of this implementation maybe those local land use implementation efforts will support the regional strategy. Implementation may be you have a plan but there's a lot of community outreach that needs to go in the implementation of moving from the city level down to the neighborhood level, talking with people, doing the visioning efforts. There may be other kinds of eligible activity for staff time, legal issues, things to work through in implementing a plan on the HUD Community Challenge Program, not looking to fund construction, but looking to move the plan to those strategies, updating the building codes, for instance, to allow energy efficiency and retrofit to occur in the community.
Question
Will there be seminar for the TIGER II grants?
Answer
There have been several already and we are looking at additional ones. There will be more in July, and there are at least two accessible from the website. I just put up the link for the TIGER II Discretionary Grant webinar held on June 1.
Question
What amount or percentages are likely to be considered competitive?
Answer
It's all based on what comes in. To give you some context, in TIGER I, only had construction grants available, for every $1 in federal funding requested there were two non-federal dollars offered. That's what happened last time.
Question
I think we already addressed this, but will there been a webinar for Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Program?
Answer
Yes.
Question
Will HUD NSP2 recipients be discriminated against vís-a-vís Community Planning Grant for a project in the same Census tract?
Answer
If the question is you received funding under HUD's NSP program and will that disadvantage you from receiving funding through this program, again, there's nothing in the NOFA saying you are disadvantaged, so no, there's nothing within the NOFA that would preclude you from being able to apply. With all these things, it's looking at how you can leverage your resources and build the strongest application based on factors discussed. I would encourage you to look through that.
Question
Per the NOFA, the lead is to submit one application. My confusion applies to how the lead should state the combination of a discretionary grant and TIGER II Planning Grant, for regional impact in the pre-application. Since the description is brief, should this issue solely mentioned in the final application?
Answer
I think the question is you might be applying for both construction and planning dollars. Just on the transportation side. If that is the case, yeah go ahead and put in the same application, follow the construction grant format, and just mention there are some planning activities you were looking to do as part of that construction, recognize the most competitive grants will be ready to go very quickly. So if those planning activities are in the very final stage planning activities that need to be done before construction begins, that should be fine. But if you are just starting out planning, it's a while before the project can go that will be a problem, particularly if construction dollars are not obligated by September 30, 2012.
For the purposes of the pre-application, it doesn't all have to be put into the project description. There are drop-down menus that identify you are applying for construction activities, and separate drop-down menu indicating planning activities.
Question
What was the proportion of requested to granted funding for TIGER I?
Answer
There were over 1,400 applications for TIGER I totaling $60 billion for $1.5 billion discretionary grants, over 1400 applications, and 51 were funded. There were $60 billion worth of applications and only $1.5 in funding. We expect to have at least that much requested in time and less than half the funding.
Question
Why is there a match required for the Challenge Grant Program, but not TIGER II?
Answer
I would respond to that, they both have a match requirement unless you are a rural area under TIGER II. Read the NOFA again for the distinctions in those matches. Congress in appropriating the funding to DOT waived the match for rural communities. Congress has told HUD we must have a match but we have a broader definition of match, some which is this leveraged resources. Through that leveraged resource definition and threshold; we believe that certainly rural communities are competitive, able to meet that threshold as well.
We are working very closely with our partners in Congress to address these barriers, differences that pop up, they are very receptive to working in the future to making this a little more seamless.
Question
Is the urbanized area defined by the Census or by the smooth boundary approved by FHWA?
Answer
The Federal Highway Administration allows the Census urbanized area boundary to be smoothed to avoid having a boundary which skips around, so the smoothed boundary can be used.
Question
Can applications have a two-stage planning project with part one developing the process while part two selectively applies the process?
Answer
I would encourage you to look through the eligible activities, both sets of activities are eligible and so again I would read through the planning factors to see how you might want to package that, but there's nothing inherently ineligible about what that question is posing.
Question
Can a project receive both Urban Circulator funding and TIGER II funding?
Answer
Yes.
Question
The City of Los Angeles has a designated NRSA; is there an advantage in potential scoring if project activities are concentrated in such a designated zone?
Answer
To the extent you can show the effort will benefit disadvantaged populations. That is something definitely worth highlighting in your application.
Question
Do applications need to support an existing RTP within the target regional planning district?
Answer
It's certainly helpful to have an application that fits in with a regional plan. It may depend; again, there are different types of eligible activity. Some applicants may look to do planning in anticipation of infrastructure investments included in their RTP. Some may be involved with retrofitting infrastructure and existing communities, not new infrastructure investments planned but how you better coordinate and revitalize. It definitely depends on the type of activity on which you may be seeking funding.
Especially for planning grants, you may be just beginning to plan something that you hope will go into a future plan, regional transportation plan. So, it's certainly, in terms of construction side, probably, in terms of demonstrating regional support for project is good, but on the planning side, if it's new, innovative, something you have not thought would have a source of funding for, at least on the federal side, in the past, now TIGER changed that, it may be new, therefore wouldn't be in there.
Question
If a planning project started and needs funds for a second phase, such as zoning revisions or consensus building, can the funding of phase 1 counted towards the 20%?
Answer
No.
Question
Using your bike path example from earlier, if you already have a master plan developed for alternative transportation network can you use TIGER II for preliminary engineering and design of a segment?
Answer
Yes.
Question
Does the 15 page limit include letters of support and documentation of match?
Answer
I don't think so. No.
Question
For transportation projects, does a regional project have to be connected directly to a national road way?
Answer
No. Not required.
Question
Is a linked application different from a joint application? That is must applicants apply either to HUD or DOT not both, but specify in the application a subtotal sought from the other agency?
Answer
If you are looking for funding from both HUD and DOT under these programs, you need to do it in the same application. If you are seeking funding from each of the agencies for totally different projects, then you can do that through separate applications and need not let us know about the other application.
However, a reminder, these applications are all being submitted to the same portal, so it's not that some are going to HUD, some to DOT. You are submitting the application to one point of entry of which we as a team will be reviewing and evaluating the application. So, again, think of not two separate worlds, but one coordinated process we have developed.
Question
What about projects where growth will occur after the facility seeking TIGER II funding is completed?
Answer
I don't quite understand the question. Maybe if the questioner could elaborate, send it back in we will be able to better answer.
Question
Can you submit a project to HUD Sustainable Communities and the same project to TIGER II without a penalty?
Answer
If you were to submit separately there would be a penalty. You need to submit together. If it's the same project with components that apply to various programs, it is one application. For the purposes of this program there's no HUD and DOT, there's one entity.
Question
Will local planning organization, such as the South California Association of Governments be expected to serve as a partner?
Answer
No one is expected to partner, but to the extent that there is greater partnership you will be more competitive. The extent to which you look like you are going it alone will harm the competitiveness of the application.
Look through the NOFA. What is the activity you propose to take, do you have the people at the table that can help to do that? Keep in mind also if you are the applicant you have to be the grantee. If you are applying, when we start making arrangements to do a grant agreement or cooperative agreement, you must be the grantee. It cannot go to another organization; you should not apply if you do not have the capacity to be the grantee.
Question
We are about out of time. We will do one more question and we will wrap up. I will talk in a minute about the questions that have gone unanswered. Will there be another round of this funding? Will future rounds include implementation funding?
Answer
Certainly hope so. That's in the hands of Congress. What I can tell you is they have been very much involved and informed in the development of the program. They are watching with great eagerness and interest. This is the second year of TIGER and the first year of HUD's program. I believe there's a mark-up going on right now in the House of our joint spending bills and we wait eagerly to see whether or not they continue the programs and certainly hope they do.
Jennifer Symoun
Thank you. We're out of time. I know there are still a lot of questions we haven't addressed. We have gone through a lot of question. We will get the presenters today all of the questions which have not been addressed and get the Q&A out to everybody. We encourage you to continue submitting questions to freight@dot.gov, and you can submit questions to the address which is up there. We will work on getting answers to everything that was asked today and not yet answered. Thank you to everybody for attending today. Thank you for dealing with our brief audio issues and thank you to our presenters and have a great rest of the day.
