Columbus officials plan to use federal grant money to resurface crumbling streets, saying its part of a plan to make high-crime neighborhoods safer.

Under the proposed change, the city will redirect to the Department of Public Service about $6 million of its $19 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds, which it previously had earmarked to create physical deterrents to crime and to design a preschool on the Hilltop.

The money still will be used for its intended purpose, Joe Lombardi, the city’s finance director, maintained. The “neighborhood crisis response” program that launched under Mayor Andrew J. Ginther’s “Comprehensive Neighborhood Safety Strategy” in 2017 determined that it wanted to use funding for resurfacing, he said.

Streets in Linden, Northland and the Hilltop, along with other streets in the northeast quadrant of the city, will be repaved, said Dan Giangardella, assistant finance director.

“We know it’s been a tough winter and we know there’s a lot of streets that need attention,” he said. “All of our neighborhoods are a priority, but we have a focus on these areas.”

To pay for the resurfacing, Columbus will have to redirect some CDBG funding the city receives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The biggest chunk of money will come from what the city calls “neighborhood crisis response,” a multi-department effort that is supposed to coordinate city resources to install streetlights in alleys, deal with nuisance code problems and mitigate other physical deterrents to health.

That funding falls under the Department of Neighborhoods, but it is being shifted instead to the Department of Public Service, which oversees city resurfacing contracts.

HUD did not respond to a Dispatch request Thursday afternoon for comment on Columbus' plan to redirect CDBG funds for resurfacing.

The city’s original plan included about $5.5 million in federal grant funding to be spent on those programs in Linden, the Near South Side and the Hilltop this year. It will take about $3.7 million of that to resurface roads. Another $2 million for the resurfacing was taken from funds allocated for the Hilltop preschool project, which came in under budget.

“They’re still going to have that attention. Those dollars are still going to be spent in those neighborhoods. There are other things I’m sure, in the capital budget, with respect to these neighborhoods,” he said.

The administration still is working on what is expected to be a tight 2019 capital budget, Giangardella said. Columbus sets aside about $30 million a year in the capital budget to pay for resurfacing. Last year, it allocated $36 million to resurface 128 miles on 160 streets.

“This will augment whatever we end up with for 2019,” he said.

Columbus officials originally budgeted $4 million for the preschool design, but Giangardella said that after working out an agreement to obtain the property from Columbus City Schools, the city needed only $2 million to design the preschool. The city council this month approved a contract with BBCO Design to design a three-story, 45,000-square-foot building primarily for preschool classrooms for low-income students.

It also will include space for Columbus City Schools and adult education classes.

The city is taking public comment on its plans until April 27. The Columbus City Council will vote on changing the CDBG funds spending plan and a paving contract after the comment period.

Comments can be directed to 614-645-8069 or cnthurman@columbus.gov.

rrouan@dispatch.com

@RickRouan