Thurston Regional Planning Council grant funding has been secured to build new sidewalks on the Town of Bucoda’s Main Street, Bucoda Mayor Callie Carpenter announced during the Bucoda Town Council’s monthly regular meeting on Tuesday, May 13.
Carpenter brought up the secured funding during the approval of a memorandum of understanding between the Town of Bucoda and the Thurston County Public Works Department. The Bucoda Town Council unanimously approved the memorandum of understanding.
“The Town (of Bucoda) shall provide all planning, design and construction, contracts, administration, project coordination and all other work that is necessary to construct the sidewalk replacement on Main Street project, in accordance with the two grants awarded by (the) Thurston Regional Planning Council,” Carpenter said.
The first grant — which was originally awarded to the town in December 2020 — was for the amount of $137,500.
It was followed by a second Thurston Regional Planning Council grant awarded this past December for an additional $183,333.
This gives the Town of Bucoda a total of $320,833 in grant funding for the Main Street sidewalk replacement project. No timeline for when construction was expected to begin or be completed was given.
Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Carpenter announced she is currently working with U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell’s office to apply for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant funding for a new pedestrian bridge over the Skookumchuck River, providing access to Bucoda’s Volunteer Park.
“I did receive a callback from (Cantwell’s) aide … He said the USDA was extremely interested in our project for our walking bridge to connect Volunteer Park with the town,” Carpenter said.
Should the town be awarded the USDA grant, it will provide funding for 75% of the project, leaving the Town of Bucoda to pay for the remaining 25%, Carpenter said.
“We still have to go through the budget process. We probably won’t know until after June … if we’re actually going to be able to have some money to be able to pay for that,” Carpenter said.
Currently, despite Volunteer Park’s entrance being less than 1,000 feet from Bucoda’s residential area, there is no sidewalk or shoulder on the only bridge giving Bucoda’s children walking access on Tono Road Southeast.
The Bucoda Town Council meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. inside the Bucoda Community Center, located at 101A E. Seventh St. in Bucoda.
For more information, visit the town’s website at https://www.bucoda.us/general-information.html.
