By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM – At a hearing Monday night, Potsdam village trustees heard from people who want the problems with the Crosstown Canal fixed, and voted to seek funding for the project.

The total project cost is estimated by engineering firm Environmental Design and Research at $15.4 million.

The village plans to take it in stages, and is applying with its next Consolidated Funding Application for $2.45 million to move on to the next stage in the work.

Village Administrator Greg Thompson said it will take “at least eight years” of rounds of funding and work to complete the job that is envisioned, which includes preparing two stormwater storage areas upstream near Potsdam High School to slow drainage after a heavy rain.

During the hearing, which preceded the regular board meeting, several residents rose to speak about their travails with stormwater backup in their neighborhoods due to the inadequacies of the canal.

It is clear the mounting problems with the canal in last few years have been preceded by a long period of sporadic backups and flooding.

“I have water in my cellar 24/7 now,” said Shirley Christman of 31 Waverly St. She said she has complained for years about flooding in her basement but was told at one point it was not due to the canal, which runs through her backyard and used to be completely open.

“We used to skate on it,” she said.

The says the house where she has lived for decades is a big old house and as she ages she is concerned that when the time comes to sell the house, “I don’t think too many people are going to want to buy a house with a spring in the cellar.”

Sharon Kahn, who has lived at 11 Canal St. with her husband George for the last 42 years, says that in the last three or four years “the problems have been more frequent.”

Kahn noted the collapses along the route of the canal where it had been covered and enclosed.

“It’s a safety issue. Someone is going to fall through the canal,” she said.

George Kahn said he was skeptical of any plan to try to get the stormwater to funnel into the relatively small conduit in his neighborhood.

Vicky Clark of 26 Waverly St. said she believes previous efforts at fixing the problem have not worked. “I don’t know if it exacerbates it or fixes it,” she said.

After the hearing the Board of Trustees voted to apply to the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation’s Green Innovation Grant Program (GIGP) for $1.7 million and for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) of $750,000.

The GIGP would require a 10 percent local match of $17,000 from the village if the $1.7 million grant is awarded.

No local match is required for CDBG funding.

The trustees also voted to apply for as much as $100,000 for a state DEC/EFC Wastewater Infrastructure Engineering Grant, and authorized a match of up to $20,000 for that grant.