City Council approves extending Downtown Revitalization 

SIDNEY – The Sidney City Council has extended the Downtown Revitalization project to 2027. 

The Council was presented with a letter to the Nebraska Department of Economic Development requesting a one-year extension to complete the Downtown Revitalization Project funded through the Community Development Block Grant. 

Interim City Manager Josh Hanson asked the council to support moving the end date. 

“We are requesting that the final completion date be modified from May 17, 2026 to May 17, 2027. Previous action, in 2023 the City of Sidney was awarded $435,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds for the Downtown Revitalization. The original end date, as I mentioned earlier, was May 14 of 2026. Although the project experienced a slower start during the first year, significant progress was made in 2025 and continues into this year,” Hanson said. 

David Welanko, grant manager for Panhandle Area Development District (PADD), said there is about $100,000 left in the grant. 

“We want to do the extension, to give us one more building season. As we wind this down, I would say so far the contracts have ranged from about $16,000 to $133,000,” Welanko said. 

He said there isn’t an average grant. Funding depends on the business. He added the program will expire by next year. 

“By this time next year, there will be no new projects. We have to close it out,” he said. 

Welanko said he wants to change the guidelines in case there are multiple applicants during the last year of the program as funds are depleting.