Jefferson County’s effort to convert a building on the former Montana Developmental Center’s South Campus in Boulder, referred to as Cottage Five, to a new county health facility appears to be in jeopardy after the county failed to secure a $500,000 historic preservation grant from the Montana Department of Commerce that was deemed necessary to fund the project.
“There are still some strong options left, but we’re sort of in a wait-and-see situation,” said Jefferson County Commission Chair Cory Kirsch. “Based on what I’ve been told, there’s still a chance we might get the historic preservation grant, but either way we definitely need to take care with how we move forward.”
Despite concerns over being initially passed over, Kirsch and other county officials claim that the county may still yet receive the historic preservation grant. Cottage Five’s proposal ranked 26th of 63 submitted grant applications, with only the top 17 projects receiving initial Commerce Department support.
