Council OKs grant funding for food store.

Byline: Jack Moran The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - A City Council decision earlier this week makes Joan Haydn optimistic that she will soon receive $90,000 to help upgrade a downtown building that her business - Wynant's Family Health Foods - is preparing to move into.

Councilors on Monday voted 5-1 to grant conditional approval of Haydn's request for Community Development Block Grant funding. Haydn would use the money to help fix up a vacant building at Seventh and South A streets that Haydn and her daughter bought last December.

Haydn's family has owned and operated Wynant's for 26 years. The retail outlet now rents space in Pioneer Plaza on the north side of town.

With its vote, the council directed City Manager Gino Grimaldi to make the final decision on the funding request after he receives and reviews a formal business plan for the store.

Haydn said she wants to expand Wynant's natural food selection at the new downtown spot to include locally grown produce and other products not offered at the present location.

The Wynant's request is unusual because federal CDBG funding is typically awarded to nonprofit agencies seeking to offer housing and other services to low- and moderate-income people.

But city officials say the store qualifies for funding under grant rules because it would employ low- to moderate-income workers and also improve an area that the city has determined is blighted.

Councilors were caught off guard last month when they learned of the request to give $90,000 to a for-profit business that will move downtown with or without the public funding.

Initially, the council delayed any decision. But after further review, only Councilor Dave Ralston voted against giving the money to Wynant's. Ralston said he felt $90,000 was excessive, and that the city should first establish rules for evaluating for-profit business requests for CDBG funding.

City staff members are now working on criteria that the City Council can use to weigh future requests.

"I suspect there will be more" from for-profit businesses, Grimaldi said.

If the city releases the grant money to Wynant's, it would most likely be in the form of a deferred payment loan that would be forgiven after 10 years, as long as the business remains in operation at 722 South A St. Also, the city would require a restrictive covenant on the property to prohibit adult entertainment businesses from opening there if the health food store does not succeed.

Haydn said she doesn't really mind that the city needs more information from her than the bank that approved a mortgage loan for the property.

"I understand their concerns," Haydn said. "We kind of threw them a curveball, and I guess they weren't ready for it."

Ralston agreed with the rest of the council that Wynant's will help the downtown.

"They're brave to come downtown, and I want to help them if we can," Councilor Hillary Wylie said.

According to Wynant's funding application, 200 to 500 customers are expected to visit the store daily.

The $90,000 from the city would cover nearly half the cost of renovating the building - formerly an auto shop - to make it suitable for a health food store. Haydn said the funding would speed the move, allowing Wynant's to reopen downtown by this fall.