{"id":9420,"date":"2023-11-11T07:38:32","date_gmt":"2023-11-11T12:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=9420"},"modified":"2023-11-11T07:38:33","modified_gmt":"2023-11-11T12:38:33","slug":"decatur-facade-program-returning-expanding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/11\/decatur-facade-program-returning-expanding\/","title":{"rendered":"Decatur facade program returning, expanding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decatur’s popular facade program will be returning in an expanded form in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program, which provides matching funds for businesses to improve their facades, has for some 10 years been limited to the downtown area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next year, however, all businesses which operate primarily within the city limits of Decatur will be able to apply for funds if they meet the established criteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community Coordinator Jamie Gephart told city council at its Tuesday meeting that to qualify a business must be a member of Decatur Main Street \u2013 which works hand-in-hand with the Chamber of Commerce \u2013 contribute to the city’s economy, be independently owned and operated, employ under 50 people, and not be dominant in its field on a national basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those interested in applying for a facade grant must attend one of two upcoming meetings on Thursday, Dec. 7 in City Hall: at 9 a.m. and at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Anyone with questions may contact Community Coordinator Jamie Gephart at jgephart@decaturin.org<\/a> or by calling (260) 724-7171.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the facade program, a business may seek a grant of up to $10,000 and the city will match the requested amount. The city has $50,000 budgeted for the program in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decatur has been annually putting $50,000 into the program, but suspended it this year in the face of a money crunch due to having to fork over a match to the state for the Five Points renovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe idea was to stretch (the program) out and you’ve done that,\u201d Councilman Matt Dyer told Gephart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to thank you; you have put a lot of effort into this,\u201d Councilman Wylie Sirk added, speaking to Gephart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com Decatur’s popular facade program will be returning in an expanded form in 2024. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17,14,15],"class_list":["post-9420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-community","tag-decatur","tag-featured"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/BB923975AC5141C09DA15DCD8C60990D.jpg?fit=718%2C540&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}