FALL RIVER — The revamped Fall River Redevelopment Authority met for the first time Wednesday and one of its initial actions was to sanction the submission of two applications totaling $700,000 to advance economic development for the city.
The five-member board has four new members: Gov. Charlie Baker’s appointment of Joseph Marshall and Mayor Paul Coogan’s three picks of Joan Medeiros, John Erickson and Luis Gonsalves.
Veteran member Loriann Taylor Branco is the only member remaining from the former RDA board.
The RDA is one of two organizations seeking economic development funding from the Community Development Agency’s Community Development Block Grants for fiscal 2021, which begins July 1.
The former RDA board approved a request for $450,000 to continue its contract with Fall River for citywide economic development, including loans and a storefront grant program for local businesses.
The other request, also approved, is for $250,000 to fund the agency’s urban development initiative. It targets the South Main Street downtown area and the waterfront. RDA Economic Development Director Maria Marasco told the board that the request would streamline loans to businesses targeted in those two areas.
Marasco said that under the CDBG grant guidelines funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, targeting areas of a community for redevelopment is supported.
“So this gives the board the opportunity for discussion of where it wishes to focus its attention,” said Marasco.
Bristol County Economic Development Consultants, formerly the Fall River Office of Economic Development, has also applied for the CDBG grant funding for economic development with a request for $400,000.
Under former mayor Jasiel Correia’s administration, BCEDC was denied funding two years in a row.
Previously, the former FROED had performed economic development for the city since the 1970s.
The new RDA board also voted Marshall as its chairman, Erickson as vice chairman and Branco as secretary and treasurer.
Email Jo C. Goode at jgoode@heraldnews.com.