LAKE PLACID — The village’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant application was signed, sealed and delivered in early October.
It marks the village’s first application for the award since the annual $10 million funding program began in 2016, according to Adam DeSantis, who serves as the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism’s director of economic development.
He said the village’s paperwork was submitted by the Oct. 18 deadline. While village officials ultimately submitted the application, DeSantis served as an advisor throughout the process, presenting at several community forums held throughout the year.
Each year, one downtown in each of New York’s 10 economic development regions are chosen to receive a $10 million award from the state meant to “transform downtown neighborhoods into vibrant centers that offer a high quality of life and are magnets for redevelopment, business, job creation and economic and housing diversity,” according to the application’s description.
Locally, Saranac Lake was the 2018 recipient for the North Country region, as was Tupper Lake in 2021. The process has several steps, according to DeSantis, with the final list of project sites and money allocated to each chosen after a municipality has been selected as a recipient.
Lake Placid focused its project zone for the application on the lower Main Street section of the village, beginning at the Post Office and extending south along Main Street. It includes portions of Sentinel Road and Station Street.
A map of the application’s zone can be found at tinyurl.com/374rcwnu.
DeSantis said the application included a list of several public and private project ideas in the area. He emphasized that the list submitted to the state by the October deadline is subject to modification if Lake Placid is ultimately chosen to receive the grant.
Initial projects included the Power Pond Preserve, Lower Main Street historic center streetscape enhancement, a legacy art trail, a community connector, historical society rehabilitation and rehabilitation of the open lot at 2792 Wilmington Road — the site of the former 7-Eleven gas station.
DeSantis said a number of private property projects were also included in the application. Those included the former Subway Sandwich Shop location at 6163 Sentinel Road, the former IGA building near Lisa G’s restaurant, the Hurley Brothers property on Station Street and a potential project at the former Thunderbird Motel.
“Once a community is selected and is awarded the DRI grant, the strategic investment planning process (begins), at which time there is an open call for projects,” he said. “At that point, there could be new projects, (and some initial) projects are going to be redesigned and modified based on additional feedback.”
DeSantis added that it is at this stage where budgeting is allocated. He said that while the initial application had an estimated cost for each project, those are rough numbers that are meant to be refined during the strategic investment planning process.
“We do have estimates for some of these projects, but they are relatively rough numbers that would be refined based on anticipated costs as we get closer to the actual start of any project,” he said. “Developing the budget is part of the strategic investment planning process.”
DeSantis said six municipalities from the North Country region submitted DRI applications, including Lake Placid. He said Plattsburgh and Malone had submitted applications but did not know the other three.
He felt Lake Placid had submitted a competitive application due to its incorporation of community feedback.
“I think having substantial community feedback around the projects is critical in a successful application, and having the understanding that it’s being informed by the needs of the local community,” he said. “I think because this application was developed in concert with the (village’s) comprehensive planning update that we’ve achieved that goal.”
He said the process was competitive, and eventual winners often re-submit grants over multiple years before eventually being chosen.
If Lake Placid is not chosen as a winner this year, DeSantis said the work that the village put into its application was worthwhile and would make it stronger in future years.
“It’s very common that communities will submit several applications before winning an award,” he said. “Following the announcement of the award, there’s typically a debrief with the (state) and their representatives to talk about the application and identify any areas that could be improved.”
DeSantis said the 10 Regional Economic Development Councils throughout the state will submit their recommendations for each region’s winning municipality on Dec. 6. He said the state then reviews the commissions’ recommendations and issues the final decisions.
DeSantis expects winners to be announced by the governor sometime around the beginning of next year. He thanked everyone in the community who provided feedback throughout this year.