ZELIENOPLE — Some private donors to the planned Main Street revitalization effort gathered at Spring Street Café Tuesday for a project update.

Jim Ayers, Zelienople PA Revitalization president, told the 15 people who attended that he was optimistic that state grant money would be forthcoming.

“There’s no guarantees, but we believe it’s very, very promising,” Ayers said.

The group is still pursuing several grant opportunities.

He said the Zelienople PA Revitalization will continue to work with borough council to develop a budget and scope for the project’s first phase. The plan is to start work sometime next year, Ayers said.

The biggest potential source of funding would be from the Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, which could provide as much as $4.9 million.

An application for the grant in 2013 was denied, but the borough has re-applied this year and has taken additional steps to woo the state officials involved, Ayers said.

In March Michael Cortez, senior adviser to the secretary of the department of community and economic development, visited and was given a tour by members of the revitalization group.

Cortez is a key figure in deciding what communities get the grant funding, Ayers said.

“For that presentation we really put on the full-court press. I can’t guarantee anything, but I can tell you that by the end he was starting to give some buying signals,” he said.

The grant recipients will be announced sometime before the end of the year.

In addition to the state redevelopment grant, the group is seeking funding through several other grant programs including Butler County, PennDOT, the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Department of Community and Economic Development.

According to original plans, the first phase would include constructing a parking lot between Spring and New Castle streets, redoing sidewalks between Culvert Street and the Four Corners Parks, installing new traffic signals and moving electric wires underground. The estimated budget for the extent of the work would be more than $9 million.

Even without additional grant money, the borough has already made a commitment to construct a parking lot and that part of the project will be a first priority when a budget is developed, said Mary Hess, revitalization board member and borough council member.

Tom Murray, a businessman who tried to get grant funding to improve Main Street in the 1990s, applauded the hard work of the new volunteers.

“We’ve got a new generation running Main Street,” he said.

Murray added that an important part of the project and future development of the community should be promoting retail businesses to come, making it more of a destination for shoppers.

One Enchanted Evening bridal shop plans to open its new store on Main Street this year, though there are other vacant spaces in the borough that could house retail businesses, he said.

The main motivation of the project should be to make Zelienople a better place to live for future generations, Hess said.

“I think we all have a vision of what we think this town can be,” she said. “We want to make sure we leave something for our children and grandchildren.”

The nonprofit organization, which is run by a board of 18 volunteers, was also recently granted 501c3 nonprofit designation by the Internal Revenue Service, Ayers said.

Their work started about three and half years ago when a group of community members started meeting to talk about raising money and applying for grants.

Private donors have included the members of the revitalization board as well as businesses including Northwest Savings Bank, WesBanco, NexTier Bank and ESB Bank.