The city of Truesdale will receive $1.6 million in federal funding to build a community shelter for severe weather incidents, which will also double as a gathering place, city leaders recently announced.

Funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “safe room” grant program will be used to build a shelter at Bruer Park that can hold 900 people. But to get that funding, the city will have to match it with $186,000 of its own money, for a total project cost of about $1.8 million.

Truesdale Mayor Chris Watson said building a community center and storm shelter has been a goal for the city for a number of years. Having space for such a building was one of the motivators to purchase the Bruer Park property in 2018.

Chad Eggen with Boonslick Regional Planning Commission said Truesdale’s portion of the project cost, 10 percent, is relatively low for this type of grant. Boonslick is assisting with the project and helps local governments access various grant programs.

Eggen said the lack of any local storm shelter, compared to the number of nearby homes, qualified the city for the assistance.

“If a storm came through, there was no safe place to go,” Eggen commented.

The community center is open to anyone in the area during emergencies, not just Truesdale residents. Officials noted that multiple blocks of nearby homes are in the city of Warrenton, and those residents will also be able to use the shelter if they need it.

Preliminary designs for the community shelter show the building will be about 6,100 square feet, with a large multipurpose room, restrooms and utility areas. The facility will be able to withstand high winds and will be heated with a backup generator in case of winter power outages. Small offices could also be included in the final building.

However, most of the building’s life won’t be spent defying destructive weather events. The rest of the time, the building will be open for use as an activity center and gathering place. Community members will be able to use the building freely, or reserve it for special events or meetings. City officials haven’t finalized exactly how that would work.

Eventually, the building could become available for certain indoor sports.

“This wouldn’t be any time soon, but I’d like to see a basketball court in there, or a volleyball court. Something that the community could use,” Mayor Watson said.

The FEMA grant comes with a requirement that shelter has to be built within about 30 months. Truesdale is estimating about six months to finalize the engineering and design plans for the facility, which then must be approved by the state agency administering the FEMA grant. Add in time to get construction bids from contractors and get those approved as well, and the construction will probably start in late 2020 and be done by the end of summer 2021.

To afford its share of the project cost, Watson said Truesdale will combine its own savings with other outside support.

“We already started budgeting in anticipation of this grant,” Watson said. “We’re going to reach out to other funding sources, other grants, for the local match.”

Watson said the $186,000 Truesdale will have to pay would represent a major portion of the city’s revenue. By seeking added funding from other partners, he said the city won’t be taking on any debt.

He added that the Boonslick Regional Planning Commission was a key factor in making the project possible with a tremendous amount of time and effort.

“The money would never be there if it wasn’t for Boonslick coming to the table and saying ‘Hey, we can make this happen,’ ” Watson remarked.