Village continues effort for grants for economic development, rail project

KALKASKA —The Village of Kalkaska is not about to rest on its laurels, while wrapping up a nearly $3.5-million effort to redevelop the 300 Block of Cedar Street, also known as Railroad Square.

Instead, village officials have already compiled a lengthy list of potential capital improvement projects for the upcoming year — and beyond. One of those projects being applying a second time for a multi-million dollar grant that would help fund development of a truck-rail intermodal facility in Kalkaska.

In May, the Kalkaska Village Council approved a grant application in hopes of landing millions of dollars to fund planning studies and an eye on even more funding for economic development projects in the future that could reshape the village, county and even region.

Like the first, the second application will be for a federal BUILD grant and could yield up to $8.7 million to study economic development plans, including the Michigan Intermodal Transportation and Tourism Infrastructure Network, for projects ranging from Ann Arbor to Sault. Ste. Marie.