By Tom Price Jr.
Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG) approved Monday the awarding of more than $2.4 million to the City of Lindsay for programs geared to rejuvenate its downtown.
The funds are part of the Transportation Enhancement Activities (TEA) projects which will provide more than $4.6 million to Tulare County cities for projects ranging from pedestrian corridor improvements to preserving historical sites.
Applications for the TEA program were reviewed and ranked based on cost effectiveness. Following the review Lindsay by far ranked the highest netting more than half of the available funds. As part of the TEA program Lindsay must pay a local matching fund of $313,000.
The Federal TEA dollars will be provided to Lindsay in four phases, each lasting a fiscal year. Lindsay must provide a portion of their matching funds with each phase of the project.
Phase one will primarily be the design aspect of the project and will be supported with $195,000 in TEA funds and $26,000 in local matching costs. Phase two will mark the beginning of construction and will be aided with $740,000 in TEA funds and a local matching cost of $96,000. Phase three will mirror phase two with funding and continued construction and phase four will mark the completion of the project and another $738,000 from TEA and $95,000 in matching cost.
The sweeping changes to Lindsay's downtown are expected to be similar to the Sweet Brier project which was dedicated in April. .
