The city of Bremerton is set to receive more than $20 million in federal and state stimulus grants aimed at revitalizing the downtown area and providing sewer service to the Gorst area, according to Mayor Cary Bozeman.

“We applied for the money last year as part of our LIFT (Local Infrastructure Financing Tool) program,” Bozeman said.

The money came in three parts; $330,000 per year for revitalizing the downtown area, $6 million to put a sewer system in Gorst and $6 million for upgrading Bremerton’s water supply.

The revitalization money was requested for more than one item, according to Bozeman.

“That money specifically is for the revitalization of downtown, which is about job creation, he said. “If you have retail going in, you have people working. It was specifically for three projects.”

The first project could create a movie theater and more shopping downtown, according to Bozeman.

“One was the development of a downtown parking garage on Burwell and Park where we currently own two parking lots,” he said. “We want to build underground parking so we can attract a multiplex theater there. We would have retail shops and a cinema above with parking below.”

Creating a better path from the waterfront to Evergreen park also was part of the package, according to Bozeman.

“The second project was the redevelopment of Pacific Avenue all the way from the new Memorial Plaza down to Evergreen Park with new sidewalks and upgrading the street lighting and basically just upgrading the whole street,” he said. “And the third item that was in the proposal was money to continue the boardwalk project.”

Unfortunately, the money received was not what the city had requested, according to Bozeman.

“In that proposal, we were looking for $1 million dollars per year to support all of those projects,” he said. “We are only getting $330,000 per year. We will be taking a proposal to the city council, in the very near future, based on doing some of those projects. We obviously can’t do them all.”

The $6 million allocated for the Gorst sewer project is of great importance, according to Bozeman.

“The stimulus on Gorst is huge,” he said. “We have the money to sewer Gorst. I think you’ll see Gorst get redeveloped. It’s been an environmental nightmare for 50 years, so we’re going to put sewers there.”

While those projects are really important, the money received for the water supply is just as important, according to Bozeman.

“We got $6 million to upgrade our water supply, he said. “The federal government is telling us we have to upgrade our water supply, and we got the money to do it, or else we would have had to pay for it ourselves.

The fact the city was able to get the amount of money it did is of great significance, according to the mayor.

“For a little city like ours to get $20 million, that’s a big deal,” he said.