Unless someone comes up with a better idea, Greenville council plans to use its Community Development Block Grant entitlement for street paving, sidewalk and housing rehabilitation and building code enforcement.

That has been the plan for four years and is likely the plan for this year after a public hearing Wednesday afternoon produced few other ideas. A second hearing is scheduled for 5 p.m. Feb. 8.

Council is proposing to spend $131,000 of the borough’s $159,000 entitlement grant on streets, housing, sidewalks and code enforcement. The $28,000 difference will cover administration costs and other needs for the grant, said Julie Widel, senior planner with Mercer County Regional Planning Commission.

This year, council is hoping to pave and put new curbs on Taylor Street between Jefferson Street and the dead end, and South High Street between Main Street and Virginia Way, said Peter D. Nicoloff Jr., borough manager.

Income surveys have not been done on residents of those two streets, said George Pangas, code enforcement officer. Fifty-one percent of the residents must have low or moderate incomes for the project to qualify for CDBG funding.

A third project -- South Second Street between Home and Ohl streets -- does qualify, Pangas said.

The borough’s housing rehabilitation program offers loans or grants to low or moderate income property owners to bring their homes up to building code standards.

CDBG funds also are used to bring low income homeowners’ substandard sidewalks up to local codes. The borough is halfway through a multiyear program to enforce its sidewalk-standards ordinance throughout the borough.

Douglas Riley, Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce executive director and the only member of the public at the hearing, sought ways of using CDBG funds to improve a downtown alley.

Riley urged use of the block grant to pave a stretch of Talisman Alley between North Water and North Race streets. "We’re trying to get people to live on second floor apartments downtown," he said.

Mrs. Widel said the alley project would not qualify because of the income requirement.

However, she said, local leaders should think of downtown projects that could qualify for CDBG funding.

Council already is planning to use other state funds for a downtown streetscape project.