SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Sarasota County received big help by way of millions of dollars from the federal government to pay for Hurricane Ian-related damage and restoration.
Now, county leaders are fine-tuning plans to put that money to use and make sure it goes to the folks who need it.
While they have drafted an elaborate wish list to utilize the grant, they say they need to hear from the community soon to capture all the needs.
The county got $201.5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery.
This will help fund the newly created county program, Resilient SRQ, and take care of outstanding impacts in the community caused by Hurricane Ian.
"We want the majority of that money coming to those in [the] south [part of the] county because we believe that was the most impacted from the hurricane in Sarasota County," Jerome Fletcher, manager of the city of North Port, said.
As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Ian approaches, several communities in Sarasota County still have lots of picking back up left.
North Port, which was hit severely, still has several homes with blue tarp on their roof awaiting a permanent fix.
Such repair is an example of some of what the grant money would be used for. However, the next step according to community leaders is identifying who needs it, what for and how much would be invested towards that need.
"Those who have had the means to restore and bring themselves back up to a level that's close to old have done that, but there's still so much need in our community," Fletcher said. "Our community is not the wealthiest community in the county or the state so we need to make sure that we provide all the options possible."
A draft of the Public Action Plan showed some of the options for the funding including various housing programs geared toward low-to-moderate income households.
Among some of the ideas proposed are voluntary housing buyouts and damaged property acquisition programs, relocating families to places that have a lower risk for flooding and homeowner reimbursements for repairs.
The plan also includes building more multi-family affordable housing and upgrading public infrastructure and facility repairs, including roads, just to name a few.
But county leaders want affected community members to also articulate what they want to be added to the program.
"The more that they can hear from the residents who are still hurting, the better because those programs for a home recovery and affordable housing all revolve around the voice of the community," Fletcher said.
The Public Action Plan for the Resilient SRQ program is still in the early stages of planning and is subject to change.
There are several ways community members can make their voices heard. They can send in comments via email at ResilientSRQ@scgov.net through the county's website or by post to the County Administration Center.
Public comments on the Draft Public Action Plan will be accepted through Aug. 25. There's also a public meeting set for 6 p.m. on August 9 at the Robert l. Anderson Administration Center in Venice.