The cupboard for development along the riverfront in Warren isn’t empty.

While local officials were certainly hoping to be successful in the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, some elements of the project will be able to proceed due to funds that have been earmarked to the project in recent months.

“We will be looking at the entire project to prioritize again the sequencing of element completion based upon the availability of funds,” Jim Decker, WCCBI’s president/CEO explained.

And they’ve got some funds to work with.

The City of Warren allocated $1 million in state Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program funds to the boat launch element of the project.

Those funds require a dollar-for-dollar match.

The city’s proposal to meet that threshold was to utilize $473,575.85 in American Rescue Plan funds with an additional $26,420.15 coming from the city’s general fund. That equals about 50 percent of the city’s total Rescue Plan fund allocation.

The remainder of the matching funds were committed by the county to the project earlier this year in the form of $500,000 from the county’s roughly $7.5 million Rescue Plan fund allocation.

Other funding sources that have been discussed as part of the project include $95,000 from the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission for engineering costs for the launch and $40,000 currently held by the Warren County Development Association from a past attempt at a boat launch on the river.

The city also agreed to seek a grant back in March for funding from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to help offset the cost of land acquisition for the property behind the HIY building right along the riverfront and the concrete pad adjacent to the townhomes.

That grant opportunity also brings a match with city staff proposing to use additional Rescue Plan funds to match if the grant is awarded.

The Times Observer previously reported the total plan for the riverfront is estimated at $6 million — $2.2 million for the boat launch, street redesign and parking lot improvements to two city-owned parcels across from the HIY, Inc. building; $180,000 for a pump track; $541,000 for a trail behind the HIY, Inc. building; $901,000 in parking lot improvements to additional city-owned parcels further down Clark St.; $1.6 million to rebuild Clark St. and Langdon Dr. and $421,000 to demolish the concrete pad on the other side of Liberty St. and finish it as additional parking.