Village wins big twice in as many weeks; NCREDC round helps town, others here too
by Dan McClelland
Only about a week after the Village of Tupper Lake leaders won a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative state grant to help local businesses and the local economy overall, came more state money to help the village and its residents.
As part of this year's round of grants through the North Country Regional Economic Development Council, the village last week won $337,492 to continue its work improving its waterfront and the municipal park shoreline, in particular.
The shoreline enhancement work will include the purchase of a new system of floating docks at the base of Cliff Ave. where the owners of shorefront properties on local lakes and the river will be able to boat to the park, moor their crafts and wander up to the Park Street commercial district to patronize businesses there.
The village's grant will also pay for improvements to the Depression-era grandstand that graces the Tupper Lake Municipal Park and is now the home of Tupper Lake's Riverpigs semi-pro baseball franchise. The improvements there will include the painting of the grandstand's exterior siding and trim, the installation of a new historic sign and an outfield scoreboard.
The improvements funded are all part of the village's revitalization strategy and action plan, including waterfront improvements, developed with skill by Community Developer Melissa McManus and the village board with public involvement in recent years.
The money will channel through the state department of state and its waterfront revitalization program which has produced the Little Logger Playground, the Sunset Stage bandshell, the extension of the waterfront walk this summer and other park initiatives.
The Town of Tupper Lake was awarded a $346,050 sum where it and other local government partners will develop together a regional GIS (Geographic Information System) “for highway and public works infrastructure”- a new system aimed at helping the town with its asset management, budgeting and planning work.
That grant is coming to the council through the department of state.
An advocate for the town's creation of this new GIS system has been its engineering and planning consultant, the Development Authority of the North Country (DANC).
The Syracuse-based investors who have formalized here as the OWD Development LLC and who intend to refurbish the long idle Oval Wood Dish complex on The Boulevard won a $2.5 million grant from New York's Empire State Development. The group intends to redevelop “the blighted former manufacturing site” into a $30 million complex of mixed uses, according to Governor Kathy Hochul's announcement. Included will be some 90 market rate apartments and commercial space including a new Raquette River Brewing production brewery.
OWD Development LLC is also looking for a piece of the village's $10 million DRI.
The biggest winner in this year's NCREDC package of funding is the Wild Center, which was awarded $650,475 in Empire State Development money “to develop and promote its “More to Explore: Build Back Better marketing plan that uses a suite of strategic promotion activities to expand year-round indoor and outdoor Wild Center exhibits and programs that will re-build the prior audiences while attracting new, more diverse visitors to the region.”
According to the Governor's announcement, the two year project will include new exhibits, special programs and events that will increase tourism and help the regional economy.
In neighboring St. Lawrence County the Cranberry Lake Mountaineers Snowmobile Club received $233,240 to acquire new trail grooming equipment to maintain and improve trails in the area.
A big award for the Historic Saranac Lake organization in Saranac Lake was $500,000 to help it rehabilitate the Trudeau Building into a museum in the village's downtown.
Governor Hochul said last week that $196 million had also been awarded to support 488 projects across multiple New York State from state agency programs that participated in Round XI of the Regional Economic Development Council initiative. This year, $525 million in resources from state agencies was made available to support community revitalization and business growth consistent with the REDC strategic plans. Additionally, projects within each region are eligible for a share of $300 million in Industrial Development Bond Cap to support low cost tax-exempt bond financing for qualified projects. Additional project awards, including the State’s Water Quality Improvement Project program, will be announced in the coming weeks.
"The economic toll of the pandemic has been felt in every corner of the state, which is why we must ensure that our equitable economic recovery does the same," she said. “This new round of funding, rooted in a bottom-up approach that partners with local leaders and utilizes unique regional strengths, will be another important tool as we work to transform communities across New York State into places where people will want to live, work and visit for generations to come."
The Regional Economic Development Council initiative is a key component of the state's approach to state investment and economic development. In 2011, 10 regional councils were established to develop long-term strategic plans for economic growth for their regions. The councils are public-private partnerships made up of local experts and stakeholders from business, academia, local government, and non-governmental organizations. The regional councils have redefined the way New York invests in jobs and economic growth by putting in place a community-based, bottom-up approach and establishing a competitive process for state resources.
During the last decade the North Country Regional Economic Development Council has won millions in funding for viable projects in the region- often surpassing the gains and successes of all other councils in major urban centers around the state.