A homeowner used matching funds from the city’s sustainability grant program last year to help install solar panels. Photo via city documents.
More Prairie Village residents could become eligible for two city grant programs aimed at helping homeowners make exterior improvements to their homes
Catch up quick: City staff recommended city council approve several changes to the city’s exterior grant and sustainability grant programs.
Both programs reimburse qualifying residents for portions of either exterior or sustainability-related improvements to their homes.
The upshot: These changes proposed by staff are aimed at allow more homeowners to take advantage of the programs.
One proposed change, for example, would reduce a homeowner’s minimum investment needed to qualify for city grants from $2,500 to $2,000.
Key quote: “We feel [at] $2,000 you can still make a pretty good project, and it still meets the spirit of having the homeowner put some skin in the game. But [it] just minimizes that buy-in to the program a little bit,” Deputy City Administrator Nickie Lee told the council Monday night.
What are the changes?
Above, a home that used the exterior grant program in 2022 to complete a siding project. Photo via city documents.
In addition to lowering homeowners’ initial investment, city staff also recommended:
raising the appraised value maximum for eligible homes for both programs from $300,000 to $325,000,
and increasing the city’s match for both programs from 20% to 25% of a project’s cost.
What else: Staff also proposes rolling over unused 2022 exterior grant program funding to 2023, which would give the program a total 2023 budget of $90,000 in available funds to share with homeowners.
Staff also has asked the city to set up an insulation-only project to the sustainability grant program for smaller projects with a minimum of $1,000 homeowner investment.
The sustainability program’s budget would be increased from $20,000 to $30,000 in available funds.
Logistics: If approved, the programs would open on Feb. 1, a month earlier, to allow for earlier approvals.
The project period for the programs would also be extended, allowing homeowners to have their home improvement projects completed in 180 days, rather than 120 days.
Homeowners would also apply for each program online.
What’s next: These changes are set to come back before the city council for final consideration at its Dec. 19 meeting.
On Monday night, the council committee of the whole unanimously approved moving both grants and associated changes forward to the city council.
Go deeper: More details about the exterior and sustainability grant programs can be found here and here, respectively.
