Smyth County and Marion officials are eyeing a possible blend of state and federal money to help offset local costs for the construction of a parking deck in Marion.
Smyth County Director of Community Planning Sally Morgan told the county supervisors Tuesday “the Virginia Tobacco Commission has reserve funds to match stimulus money. We’re investigating that.”
The Town of Marion has applied for a $1 million DHCD grant and voted last month to pay either $500,000 toward construction of a parking deck or half the cost if construction costs below $1.5 million.
The DHCD grant would cover the $500,000 contributions by both the town and county in their joint construction of the deck.
Todd Christiansen, a deputy director with the Virginia Department of Community Development, met last week with local officials. “Todd said he would write a letter explaining it is a match, that the deck is an integral part” of the overall downtown and historic district improvements plans, Morgan said.
Town of Marion spokesman Ken Heath said the message from Friday’s meeting is that while a number of steps remain to be taken to secure funding approval from DHCD, “the project is very much alive.”
But Supervisor Marvin Perry was troubled by a revelation that came out in Friday’s meeting, Christiansen’s “condition that the money be spent in two years,” Perry said. “I don’t like the lack of control.”
County Engineer Scott Simpson said the “idea has been that the deck would be built toward the end of the courthouse project. We didn’t expect to start on the deck for three and a half or four years.”
Morgan said all DHCD block grants have a 24-month limitation, and stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is even more restricted.
Simpson added that if the county were successful in obtaining a tobacco commission grant, the commission would likewise want the money spent sooner than later.
Morgan said a possible extension will be discussed with DHCD.
Swvatoday
Tobacco Info
Tobacco is an annual or bi-annual growing 1-3 meters tall with large sticky leaves that contain nicotine. Native to the Americas, tobacco has a long history of use as a shamanic inebriant and stimulant. It is extremely popular and well-known for its addictive potential.
Nicotiana rustica leaves. Nicotiana rustica leaves have a nicotine content as high as 9%, whereas Nicotiana tabacum (common tobacco) leaves contain about 1 to 3%
A cigar is a tightly rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco which is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Sumatra, Philippines, and the Eastern United States.
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the fresh leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines. In consumption it may be in the form of cigarettes smoking, snuffing, chewing, dipping tobacco, or snus.
Cigarettes are smoking products consumed by people and made out of cut tobacco leaves. Cigars are typically composed completely of whole-leaf tobacco. A cigarette has smaller size, composed of processed leaf, and white paper wrapping. The term cigarette refers to a tobacco cigarette too but it can apply to similar devices containing other herbs, such as cannabis.
