Town of Plattsburgh officials have been working since the spring on an application for a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant from New York state. As the deadline to submit the application nears, the public was invited to learn and ask questions about the proposed projects Tuesday evening.
This was the second public workshop to showcase what is likely to be included in the Town of Plattsburgh’s application and get feedback before it is submitted.
Town Planner Trevor Cole led the meeting with a PowerPoint presentation outlining the types of development occurring in the town and the long-term smart growth vision.
“We did this in 2021. We didn’t win,” noted Cole. “We learned a bunch of stuff since then and we also implemented a lot of projects that we thought would give us not only a better chance at the DRI award this time but just self-invested in our community anyway. We would have done this but we think that they’re projects that have given us a leg up towards this application.”
Cole outlined the public projects in the proposal, which include sidewalk and park improvements, public art installations, and streetscape enhancements. Private projects include a hotel, dog park, greenspace and other enhancements at the Champlain Centre Mall, a proposed 40-thousand square foot indoor and outdoor sports facility; a new 10,000-square foot child care facility and a new mixed use housing development.
People studied the posters placed around the conference room depicting the potential projects that could be funded if the town wins the award in the eighth round. Town Councilor Dana Isabella hasn’t been working on the plan but is enthusiastic about the projects.
“I’m pretty excited with the whole thought of the Town of Plattsburgh evolving into a Town Center and a place for people to come. What I like is we’re lifting up what’s already here and I really appreciate that,” enthused Isabella. “These are people who are already invested in the Town of Plattsburgh, who are actively working in the Town of Plattsburgh, serving the Town of Plattsburgh residents. So we get the opportunity to kind of lift them up. I love the mall kind of being a center stone to some of this.”
Pat Holcombe sells real estate and was curious about the feasibility of some of the projects.
“Funding is key. It’s very expensive these days to build, to renovate, to repurpose buildings,” Holcombe said. “And getting a grant is a wonderful thing and can really help progress what’s going on in the town.”
The city of Plattsburgh was awarded a DRI in the first round of grants in 2016. Some questioned or raised concerns to Cole that state officials might think this is a duplicate application.
“Luckily I can say we’ve already met with many of the people who are involved in that review. They’re pretty clear because we’ve brought that up extensively. Mostly just because our biggest point was not like, aw, the city got one and we want one too. It’s more there is different town centers,” Cole said. “To put it in perspective Potsdam and Canton both got DRIs and they’re almost as close as us. And so we kind of said we’ve got the same name but you’ve given other communities DRIs that are actually closer. So they’re well aware.”
Town of Plattsburgh Supervisor Michael Cashman, a Democrat, said after their last attempt to obtain a DRI grant a developer’s guide was created and they launched a new town brand.
“This time we believe these projects are prime for green lights. I’m cautiously optimistic that the state will see that this is an opportunity to invest in,” Cashman said. “As I’ve noted a number of times people are already investing historically here in the Town. But the infusion of the DRI dollars would be transformational at a way that this community has never seen.”
Applications from communities for the next round of New York state’s DRI grants are due October 18th and recipients are expected to be announced in January.
The Town of North Elba and Village of Lake Placid are also applying for a DRI grant. A public information session on that application will be held Thursday evening.
