The city is spending over $124,000 in federal funds to put in new security cameras at the exterior areas of several low-income housing developments in Longmont. The funds will also pay for resurfacing two parking lots and a playground.
The money comes from Community Development Block Grants and is dispersed from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development to improve urban areas throughout the country. Cities apply for CDBG funding each year.
The security cameras will be placed in the common and exterior areas at Longmont Housing Authority properties including the Aspen Meadows Neighborhood, Fall River, Hearthstone, The Lodge and Spring Creek at a cost of $61,600, according to city records.
Another $36,805 in CDBG funding will pay for parking lot resurfacing at Hearthstone and The Lodge and $25,800 will rehabilitate the playground at the Aspen Meadows Neighborhood, the records state.
Residents at several Longmont Housing Authority apartment complexes have asked for the improvements to ease concerns about security in parking lots and to improve access into buildings, Molly O’Donnell, Longmont’s housing and community investment division director, said via email.
“LHA has definitely heard from residents that they feel more secure with the cameras at the properties that do already have them,” O’Donnell said. “They report, and we have seen, that it encourages good behavior as well, which improves the quality of life for residents.”
A third-party consultant for accessibility reviewed the LHA properties and recommended the parking lots be resurfaced, O’Donnell said.
“LHA has had requests from residents about being able to use the playground and this one will definitely improve the quality of life for families living there,” she said.
Aspen Meadows Senior Apartments resident Jean Christopher said the need for the security cameras — as well as the other improvements — was apparent.
“The cameras will be extremely helpful,” Christopher said. “Being able to have video documentation about what’s going on in parking lots, could discourage bad behavior.”
