HARTFORD VILLAGE — A church-affiliated community group is making another bid for nearly $44,000 of federal funding that it says will help renovate the historic former Elks Lodge and turn it into a secular community center.

A planning grant application from the Cornerstone Community Center — which is affiliated with the non-denominational Christian church Praise Chapel — will go in front of the Vermont Community Development Program on Tuesday.

The Hartford Selectboard approved a motion Tuesday night, allowing the town to submit the application to the VCDP.

This is the second time Cornerstone is seeking grant funding for renovations since Praise Chapel purchased the building in December 2019. Last summer, the VCDP rejected the first application in favor of other projects around the state that took “higher priority,” Hartford Planning and Development Director Lori Hirschfield said during the board meeting Tuesday.

If approved, the grant money would allow Cornerstone to do feasibility studies on the 140-year-old Horace Pease building on Route 14 and its surrounding property, looking at the environmental and structural impacts of renovating the building as well as the cost. Following the planning process, the group would apply for a second, larger grant to complete the renovations.

Sharon Miller-Dombroski, a grant writer for Cornerstone, stressed in an interview Friday that even though the group is church-affiliated, the programs hosted at the community center will not be religious. Though VCDP administers the grant, the money would actually come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which prohibits federal funding from being used for religious activities.

Instead, she said the group envisions the renovated space being used for a culinary institute; a base for a food delivery service; or even, potentially, an emergency shelter in the case of a natural disaster. The renovated building will also be open to public and local groups, which may use it for events like a wedding or a political rally, Miller-Dombroski said.

“We will not discriminate against anyone for any reason,” she said at Tuesday’s meeting. “The community center will be open for all individuals, no matter their background.”

Faith-based groups will be able to use the space for religious activities occasionally, but the funding for that use would come from Cornerstone, not the federal grant, she said.

During Tuesday’s meeting, town officials and members of the public raised some concerns about the strain the grant process will put on town staff.

“Grants take a lot of work on our staff’s time… to make sure we’re following a variety of rules that we don’t create,” Town Manager Tracy Yarlott-Davis said during the meeting, adding that the town is currently overseeing more than 16 active grant projects, totaling around $24 million in potential funding. She said she was concerned that the proposed grant applications dont include money to cover staff resources.

If the application is approved, Yarlott-Davis hopes the board and the CCC will address any staff capacity concerns before applying for the larger grant.

Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.