County Executive Parisi Signs PARC Grants to Help Communities With Economic Development

May 20, 2011
Casey Slaughter Becker, Office of the County Executive (608) 267-8823 or cell (608) 843-8858
County Executive

                           

Dane County Executive Joe Parisi signed $1 million in ‘Partners for Recreation and Conservation,’ or PARC, grants today to help communities across the county invest in projects that will help them strengthen their local economic development efforts through improvements to tourism, recreation, and conservation.  Parisi signed the grants in Oregon, one of the communities that will receive project assistance.

 

“The PARC program is designed to give local communities that are working on improvement projects a way to cross the finish line,” said Parisi.  “The PARC program is truly a product of the Dane County way – working together to find innovative solutions that will aid economic development while preserving our environment.”

 

The eight individual PARC grants approved by County Executive Parisi will go towards improving hiking and biking trails, quality of and access to fishing, and increasing outdoor recreation activities such as soccer and disc golf. 

 

The Village of Oregon will receive a $250,000 PARC grant to help fund construction of the village’s connection to the Badger State bike trail system.  Other communities benefitting from the PARC grants include Mazomanie, Middleton, Verona, Fitchburg, and Marshall. 

 

 “Quality of life is a big reason that people choose to move to one place or another,” said Village President Steve Staton. “This PARC grant has not only given us the boost we needed to finish our bike trail, it’s given us another amenity that we can use to retain and attract residents and employers.”

 

PARC money made available for all of the approved projects is matched on the local level by a community’s local unit of government and or by the organization requesting the grant.  All approved grants are listed on the attached page.  In many cases, such as the MAYSA/Reddan Soccer Complex and the Lake Marion/Black Earth Creek restoration, the local partners are raising much more than the county’s contribution.

 

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