Aurelia, Iowa — A Cherokee County Community is one of thirteen across the state that are being awarded Derelict Building Grants from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
The DNR’s Derelict Building Grant Program awards grants to small, rural Iowa communities to help deconstruct or renovate abandoned structures, remove asbestos and limit construction and demolition materials going to the landfill.
The City of Aurelia will be receiving an $18 thousand grant to abate asbestos and complete deconstruction activities on the old creamery building in that community. The City of Aurelia plans to construct a new fire and emergency management station at that location.
Other Iowa communities receiving the DNR Grants this cycle include: Afton, Eagle Grove, Elma, Farragut, Galt, Hampton, Hopkinton, Lytton, Mingo, Traer, Wapello, and West Branch. The thirteen communities will receive a total of $396,864 in grants.
The grants this time range in size from $8,967 for the town of Galt in north central Iowa, to $71,375 to the town of Elma in northeast Iowa.
Last year the City of Sutherland was awarded one of the DNR Derelict Building Grants in the amount of $43,250 to deconstruct an abandoned commercial building to make way for a new health clinic to serve the residents of Sutherland and the surrounding communities.
The DNR Derelict Building Grant Program was instituted by statute to help rural communities with populations of 5,000 or less. DBGP funding is awarded annually on a competitive basis with cash matches required.
