by: Capers Gay
Davenport
May 7th, 2025
The city of Davenport has been aiming for a grant from Florida Commerce to replace the old sewage system of the Center Crest residential community and connect it to that of Davenport’s. The grant is known as a Community Development Block Grant (or CDBG) and 70% of it must benefit low-income or moderate-income communities. As Center Crest is a community mostly comprised of retirees, this most certainly applies.
The city itself approved $50,000 dollars from its own budget for the project, but it needs a lot more than that to get off the ground. Hence, Davenport is requesting $3,316,000 in CDBG funds to complete the replacement. Despite this, the project is aiming to be efficient. All pre-existing land for the sewer line will be reused, and the city doesn’t expect this project to displace any residents.
The application for this grant is due on May 16th, 2025 and the project is expected to take 18 months should funding be approved. While city utilities director Mike Stripling says they wouldn’t be applying if there wasn’t a good chance of approval, he notes that the process is “very competitive” and frankly states, “if this grant doesn’t go through, the project doesn’t go through.”
The fate of the grant will be known in August, which will then begin the design phase of the project. The hearing for the application and the $50,000 leverage from the city went on without controversy and both items were readily approved.
