1. (a) Prior to the opening of the application period, the department shall publicize the application, as well as instructions for accessing and completing the application and any other application requirements. Application requirements shall reflect both the general requirements of the HC designation application outlined in Bea 504.11(a) and the requirements within that application relevant to this grant program, as well as grant program specific data.
2. (b) Applications shall be reviewed and scored competitively, or be subject to an award cap, if funding available in a given application round does not enable awards being issued to all eligible applicants.
3. (c) Municipalities shall submit only one application per grant application cycle, unless available funding permits otherwise. In such circumstances, the department shall provide public notice of such available funding and acceptance of additional applications.
4. (d) The department shall, at its discretion, engage a third-party vendor or partner entity to facilitate the HPRM grant program in accordance with Bea 505 rules and any related program guidance that is developed by the department, reviewed by the advisory committee, and publicized prior to a program application round.

5. (e) The department shall evaluate applications prior to scoring, where applicable, which shall result in one or more of the following actions:

   1. (1) An opportunity to cure application deficiencies, such as:

      1. a. Requesting clarifying information; or
      2. b. Requesting additional or revised supporting documentation;
   2. (2) Rejection of the application if it does not comply with required application criteria after an opportunity to cure any application deficiencies, or the applicant is ineligible; or
   3. (3) Acceptance and scoring of the application.
6. (f) When applicable, an award cap shall be no higher than half the funding available at the start of an application round.

7. (g) The department shall use scoring criteria to evaluate applications for the HPRM grant program, such as:

   1. (1) The municipality’s HC designation score and HC designation application contents and information;
   2. (2) The phase of HPRM for which the municipality is seeking funding and status of past phases;
   3. (3) The breadth of the planning, regulatory, or ordinance reform relative to other applicants; and
   4. (4) The municipality’s capacity to carry out the proposed planning, regulatory, or ordinance development.

8. (h) Applications shall be competitively reviewed and shall be scored on the following 100-point scale:

   1. (1) Thirty points for the criteria in Bea 505.11(g)(1);
   2. (2) Twenty points for the criteria in Bea 505.11(g)(2);
   3. (3) Thirty points for the criteria in Bea 505.11(g)(3); and
   4. (4) Twenty points for the criteria in Bea 505.11(g)(4).
9. (i) The department shall notify each applicant in writing regarding whether or not a grant was awarded. If a grant was not awarded or fewer funds were awarded than requested, the written notice shall specify the reason(s) for the decision.

Source. #14043, eff 8-8-24