Ephrata looking for infrastructure, economic development grant opportunities

EPHRATA — Infrastructure improvement usually starts with a plan – at least when a city is looking for state or federal funding to help pay for it. Ephrata city officials are working on plans to help bring in some of that funding, along with working on projects already planned.  

“If you don’t have a plan, you’re not even allowed to apply for grants,” said Dave Bren, project engineer and grant writer for the city.  

Bren cited the city’s flood mitigation planning as an example. A substantial section of Ephrata, including most of Basin Street Northwest, is designated as a flood zone in certain circumstances. City officials want to change that, Bren said, but the first step is a plan. 

“To get that 533 acres out of the flood plain, you’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. 

Grants and low-interest loans allow the city to leverage its money for maximum benefit, he said. 

“Good planning leads to grants,” he said.  

The city has received a $95,000 grant to work on an economic development plan to attract additional business to its industrial area. That project was a joint effort with the Port of Ephrata. 

“We’re working with the port to go after grants, which is so cool. You get a lot further working together,” Bren said.  

The city and the port each contributed $10,000 as their contributions. City and port officials also are working on a grant application to extend Enterprise Street from the port to SR 28. Extending that road would add a north-south route through Ephrata and would allow commercial traffic to access port property without driving through the business district or residential areas.  

“It does provide a lot of freight mobility to the port,” he said.  

City officials have applied for and received a grant for improvements to A Street Northeast, with construction planned for 2027. Sections of the street are in poor condition, Bren said. 

“It looks like an alligator's back. It’s failed underneath,” he said.  

Those sections will be replaced, and the city applied for and received a second grant, about $160,000, for sidewalk improvements.  

“If we’re going to be out doing the streets, it makes sense to do the sidewalks,” he said.  

Bren said the results of the city’s work will be visible to residents. 

“I’m excited to see where this goes,” he said. “When you get out on the streets and drive around, you’ll be able to tell.”