From Judy Gilleland - City Manager

As part of the financing for the acquisition and construction costs of the new Cincinnati State Middletown campus, the City will be submitting an application for a $1 million HUD Section 108 loan to assist in financing this important project. There are two separate public comment periods associated with the HUD Section 108 loan. A draft of the application was placed on the City web page and at the public library and the Senior Citizens Center as of April 9, 2012. The public comment period for the application will run from April 9 to May 9, 2012. Any citizen wishing to make comments may submit them in writing to the City and they will be included in the final application package being forwarded to HUD for consideration.

The second comment period is for the HUD environmental clearance of the project. This includes a 15-day public comment period which started on April 12, 2012. Any comments regarding the environmental impact of the Cincinnati State campus project may be submitted in writing and will be forwarded to HUD for consideration in the final environmental review. At the end of our 15-day public comment period, we will submit the request to release funds to HUD, which then starts another 15-day comment period where interested persons may submit comments directly to HUD. At the end of HUD’s 15-day comment period (about May 13), HUD can issue environmental approval for the project and then construction work may begin.

City Council has previously reviewed the various agreements between Cincinnati State and HEP and between HEP and the City of Middletown. The Section 108 application may be viewed at the link below. The City will apply to HUD for this funding, and then will loan the funds to HEP under the conditions of our Section 108 application and the agreement with HEP. To maximize the time available for construction prior to the fall opening of the Cincinnati State Middletown campus, staff will be presenting an Emergency Ordinance at the May 1st Council meeting authorizing the City Manager to submit to HUD the Section 108 application for a $1 million loan, backed by the guarantees listed in the various agreements to date.

Both the Section 108 application in its draft form and the environmental assessment for the project have been presubmitted to HUD to allow them time to raise any early concerns or request additional information while the public comment period is being completed. HUD has already completed a pre-submission review of the environmental assessment and has replied that they see no environmental issues in their early review. With City Council approval of the Section 108 loan application on May 1, we will formally submit the final packages to HUD at the end of each comment period and work with the Columbus office and Washington HUD to expedite both environmental clearance and completion of the Section 108 loan review.

Cincinnati State project HUD Section 108 Loan Application may be reviewed below under “Related Documents:” http://www.cityofmiddletown.org/community/comdev.aspx