Eight counties | 36 cities | one region

ST. JAMES— The Meramec Regional Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 10, 2019, at the MRPC office located at 4 Industrial Drive, St. James, MO 65559 to discuss the board’s submission of an application for the Fiscal Year 2019 Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program. The board is interested in obtaining all citizens’ input on disaster planning and other needs related to the April – May 2017 flooding events within the major watersheds of the eight-county area. 

Because these grant funds must focus on disaster resiliency, MRPC is proposing to use CDBG-DR funds to do a housing study within the major watersheds of the Meramec Region, determining structures within the floodplain as well as available housing or development potential outside of the floodplain. The resulting housing study will be used in hazard mitigation planning, community and economic development planning and disaster resiliency planning. MRPC is requesting $100,000 to implement the disaster planning project over a two-year period. The project, if funded, will benefit low and moderate-income persons. All citizens, including those in the targeted areas, are encouraged to attend in order to comment on the proposed activities.

“Goal 3 of our Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) is to promote revitalized, healthy, safe and resilient communities,” said MRPC Executive Director Bonnie Prigge. “Housing is component of that, and one of our objectives. We know we have families who are flooded out far too often. We need to take a comprehensive, regional approach and identify those housing issues and needs so we can identify solutions.” 

Citizens will have the opportunity to discuss the impact of the proposed project on the environment and the environment’s possible impact on the project. The board needs as much local participation as possible in order to reflect the true desires of the community as a whole, as well as comments relating to the proposed project application. At least 70% of the funds must be used to benefit low and moderate-income persons. 

For more information, or if you require special accommodations at the hearing or other meetings, contact MRPC Executive Director Bonnie Prigge at 573-265-2993. 

Prior to the public hearing, the MRPC Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) will meet at 4 p.m. The new district engineer, Machelle Watkins, is scheduled to be in attendance. Immediately following the TAC meeting, the MRPC board will meet briefly in regular session. No committee meetings or speakers are planned. 

MRPC’s Annual meeting will be Oct. 24, 2019 at Stonebrooke Center in Waynesville. 

Formed in 1969, MRPC is a voluntary council of governments serving Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Osage, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington counties and their respective cities. Gasconade County Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel serves as chairman of the board. A professional staff of 27 offers technical assistance and services, such as grant preparation and administration, housing assistance, transportation planning, environmental planning, ordinance codification, business loans and other services to member communities.

To keep up with the latest MRPC news and events, visit the MRPC website at www.meramecregion.orgor on Facebook at www.facebook.com/meramecregion/.

-30-