City awarded grant to spruce up southern historic district

MILLEDGEVILLE The City of Milledgeville earned a $39,000 GATEway grant toward landscape improvements along Franklin Street between Wilkinson and Clarke streets.

Memory Hill Cemetery frontage improvements are the main focus of the monies. The grant doesn't require local match.

Public Works Director Frank Baugh said the Friends of the Baldwin County Cemeteries approached the department last fall hoping to improve the cemetery entrance.

At about the same time, we saw this GATEway grant opportunity. It occurred to us that we could work all this together, Baugh said.

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) recently awarded more than $1.3 million for the 2014 GATEway grants to 43 local government entities around the state.

The GATEway grant program uses revenue collected from permit fees for vegetation removal in front of outdoor advertising signs.

Funds from the grants are used to reimburse local government when purchasing and installing plant material for landscape projects on state routes.

Any organization, local government or state agency can apply for a grant up to $50,000 contingent upon authorization by a local government and an agreement to perpetually maintain the project.

A primary goal of the program is to fund enduring enhancements to roadsides utilized by the traveling public. Project proposals ranged from interstate interchange panoramas to landscape embellishment of city entrance signs.

The funds may be used only for landscape plant material and its installation for the furtherance of roadside enhancement and beautification projects.

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City awarded grant to spruce up southern historic district