The outlook for York continued to brighten as they received more good news Tuesday. The city was awarded a huge grant by ADECCA to aid in repairs to communities in need of improvement.

York Mayor Carolyn Mitchell Gosa said the grant was great for York because it took very little matching funds in exchange for a solid figure. Gosa said the city already knew exactly where the funds would be applied.

“This grant for $400,000 is from ADECCA and has only a 10 percent match,” Gosa said. “What we are going to do is use it to help the Happy Acres community which is in poor condition because of sewer drainage and in need of road repair.”

The Happy Acres community is plagued with potholes and other inconveniences throughout the neighborhood. The problem becomes even worse when heavy rains come. Those who live in lower lying areas often find their yard in standing water and suffering from additional damage.

Gosa said the community has been a victim of the poor conditions long enough. She said now the funding is in place to install proper drainage and tackle other issues.

“This community has really suffered,” Gosa said.

“It is called Happy Acres, but this community has not been happy for a long time because the roads over there are in such bad condition.”

Gosa said the city would go in and see what approach should be taken. She said by the time they are done she hopes everyone has a community they can be proud of.

“To have to drive the roads that have drainage problems with the sewer eroding the roads underground is terrible,” Gosa said. “We are going to go in there and make it look like a really nice community. This has been big time for the City of York to get these kinds of grants.”

A quick drive through the community leaves no doubt as to why the need for repairs was so urgent. Even the higher areas suffer greatly from potholes and other paving flaws because of a poor sewage system. Gosa said the system runs underneath the road causing a number of problems.

“There is a sewer line running under the road that really needs to be repaired,” Gosa said. “They will probably have to take the pavement completely up to fix it.”

Things do not get any better down the hill. Anytime there is heavy rain it literally washes to the bottom of the hill. Gosa said the problems in the lower areas are greater than the higher.

“When it rains the top part has no problem,” Gosa said. “But when you go down into the bottom it is really bad. It all washes down to this place every time it rains. We are going to try to help them with those drainage problems.”

All of those problems will soon be a thing of the past.

Gosa and the city do not plan to stop there. She said they plan to continue to try to raise funding to help as many people as they can. A number of items are on the agenda for the improvement of the small Sumter County town. Gosa said they plan to stay on track and accomplish as much as possible.