Department of Community Affairs, Departmental

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS

STATE OF FLORIDA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG)

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

STATE OF FLORIDA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG)

DISASTER RELIEF FUNDING

The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) announces a public hearing, and a public comment period, on an amended Action Plan related to Community Development Block Grant disaster relief funding provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) (Docket No. FR-5089-N-01, Federal Register / Volume 71, Number 209; Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2006). The State of Florida was required to submit an Action Plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by December 30, 2006, in order to receive this supplemental funding.

Congress allocated the supplemental funding to assist in the recovery from the federally declared disasters noted in the above-mentioned issue of the Federal Register. The Action Plan proposes to use the funds for housing-related mitigation activities.   Urban Entitlements and Non-Entitlements eligible to participate in the Florida Small Cities CDBG Program, as well as federally recognized Indian Tribes, within the counties listed in the federal disaster declaration for Hurricane Wilma, are eligible to apply for assistance. These counties include: Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Indian River, Lee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Okeechobee, Osceola, Palm Beach, Polk, Sarasota, and St. Lucie. Applicants must document and certify that there is no other funding available to address the need.

The Action Plan is being amended to allow greater flexibility in addressing disaster recovery needs. To facilitate the public comment process, the Action Plan is being emailed to eligible local governments and Indian Tribes and posted to the Department’s website at: http://www.floridacommunitydevelopment.org/disasterrecovery.cfm.

A public hearing will be conducted on April 26, 2007, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at the Department of Community Affairs in the Randall Kelley Training Room, 3rd Floor Sadowski Building, 2555 Shumard Oak Boulevard in Tallahassee. Written comments will be accepted until May 7, 2007. Comments can be hand-delivered, emailed or mailed to the Department:

Florida Small Cities CDBG Program

Department of Community Affairs

2555 Shumard Oak Boulevard

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2100

Telephone: [phone]

Email: [e-mail] or [e-mail]

Any person requiring a special accommodation at the workshop because of a disability or physical impairment should contact Pat Harvey at the Department of Community Affairs [phone] at least seven days before the workshop to request the accommodation. If you are hearing or speech impaired, please contact the Department of Community Affairs using the Florida Dual Party Relay System, which can be reached at 1(800)955-8771 (TDD).