$2.8 Million in Quake Grants Allocated

The County Board of Supervisors has allocated $2.8 million in federal earthquake recovery grants, and nearly all the money was earmarked for the hard-hit areas of Fillmore and Piru.

“Due to the extent of the damage, . . . the funding requests far outweighed the funds,” Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Marty Robinson wrote in a memo to the board, which voted Tuesday. “The recommended projects are those which are urgently needed to provide housing and commercial rehabilitation.”

The largest grant, $575,000, will go to the city of Fillmore for materials to rebuild homes. Two-thirds of the grant will be spent in Fillmore and one-third in Piru. The county will spend another $200,000 to rebuild dwellings in those two communities.

Cabrillo Economic Development Corp., the county’s largest builder of low-cost housing, will get $400,000 to build 30 three- and four-bedroom rental houses for the very poor in Fillmore. Residents of that city will get first crack at the rentals.

Another $90,000 will go to low-income housing developer Affordable Communities to pay pre-construction costs at a 100-unit Piru subdivision.

The city of Fillmore will get another $471,000 to begin to rebuild its shattered downtown and to pay for the temporary shelters where displaced shopkeepers moved after the Jan. 17 quake.

Piru’s commercial district will receive about $170,000, most of it to rebuild eight shops and businesses.

Another $50,000 will go to Moorpark to help repair two damaged businesses, and $21,000 and $20,000 will be forwarded to Oxnard and Ventura, respectively.

The remaining $480,000 will be spent by Ventura County to repair Fillmore’s reservoirs and on a variety of other projects.

Simi Valley manages its own federal Community Development Block Grant program and previously received $5.5 million in quake recovery grants.