County plans to give $1.1M in grants

Williamson County has listed nine projects throughout the county it plans to fund using its Community Development Block Grant allocation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Commissioners approved the $1.1 million in funding April 24. In Georgetown, the county plans to award $78,900 to a sidewalk improvement project along the south side of University Avenue between I-35 and Scenic Drive.

Sally Bardwell, Williamson County's CDBG coordinator, said the grant's purpose is to assist low- to moderate-income homes and areas.

The county received a total of 20 eligible applications requesting $4.3 million in funding, and from those projects chose nine.

The projects must still go through a public comment period of 30 days, which begins May 3 and includes a public hearing. A more detailed description of the projects will then come back to Commissioners Court for approval, which will be followed by another 30-day public comment period before the list is sent to HUD.

The county also has a list of alternate projects in case some of the projects are ineligible based on the way HUD is changing how it uses census data.

Dead trees force closure of WilCo disc golf course for six months

Williamson County is closing Southwest Regional Park's disc golf course in Leander for about six months because of the safety hazard created by dead trees in the park.

Williamson County Commissioners voted April 17 to close the course until about mid-October while the course is cleared. Parks Director Randy Bell said he estimated there are roughly 250 trees near the course that have died due to drought conditions.

The 18-hole disc golf course opened in 2006 at Southwest Regional Park at 3005 CR 175, Leander.