Athens City Council discusses home improvement program and summer closures of Court Street

The Athens City Council met Monday to discuss closing Court Street for events this summer and a low-income home improvement program.City Council conferred about the home improvement program created by the Hocking Athens Perry Community Action, for which the group requested funding.Glenn Crippen, community development coordinator for HAPCAP, explained the Community Housing Impact and Preservation Program. The program is a federal grant that assists in home improvement for households with an income at or below 80 percent of their house payments.Crippen said CHIP will be willing to provide services ranging from complete rehabilitation of the household, meaning replacement of everything from the roof to the foundation of the house, to smaller services like floor replacement and roof repair. While complete rehabilitation costs upwards of $35,000, according to Crippen, smaller repairs rarely surpass $10,000.“States like to see communities pursuing programs for activities that aren’t already being funded by another agency,” he said. “This program is very unique and would absolutely do that.”City Council also discussed closing Court Street for Boogie on the Bricks, an annual event held in the summer.Judy Wymer, coordinator, president and CEO of BOTB, requested to hold the event July 16, a departure from its June date in the past two years. However, the requested date overlaps Brew Week, creating complications for closing Court Street two weekends in a row.Wymer explained the reason for the change is weather related.“Rain really has been a damper on our event,” she said.Papai felt the organizers of Brew Week should be involved in the discussion of scheduling BOTB during Brew Week and Mayor Patterson agreed.“I can see collisions all over the place in terms of where people are willing to go or not go,” Patterson said. “It’s just an organizational issue and we should try to solve it now.”Wymer agreed to contact the Brew Week organizers before making a decision.Street closings were also requested for the King Midget event, a celebration of Athen’s previous production of King Midget cars and the Human Powered Vehicle Challenge made by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.