BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM — Thirteen applicants have applied for grants for rehabilitation projects under the village’s Rebuild Downtown Potsdam Fund, which is funded through the state Downtown Revitalization Initiative award the village received in 2019, said Village Economic Development Director Fred Hanss.

In other DRI-related news, the village is moving forward on its Downtown Revitalization Initiative project which will enhance the communiy's main economic corridors, and the Potsdam Fall Island skatepark project, which is organizing and hopes to receive DRI funding to launch, is drawing support from several community leaders.

“We are working with, at this point, thirteen applicants for the downtown fund,” said Hanss. “It’s a pretty tremendous response.”

Hanss said the applicants include two rental assistance housing applicants, and eleven downtown businesses.

The Rebuild Downtown Potsdam program draws from a $750,000 (state DRI funded) revolving grant and loan fund for rehabilitation projects, rental assistance, business renovations, quick-start grant program, and COVID-19 related capital improvements, according to the village’s DRI strategic investment plan.

Hanss said there could be more applicants as the project progresses. The applicants will now go through a project review and design phase before any grant funding is awarded.

Potsdam’s $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative state award was announced in October 2019. A local committee developed a strategic investment plan for the cash which included a list of projects which would be viable for the DRI funding, which is taxpayer dollars re-funneled through various state agencies to vetted projects.

The village’s strategic investment plan can be viewed on the state website at https://on.ny.gov/3GuPER7 .

In other DRI news, Hanss said he and Village Administrator Greg Thompson are in the process of developing a Request for Qualifications to circulate among engineering and architectural firms they might hire to take on two of the municipality’s big ticket items on DRI plan, the Downtown Streetscape Enhancement Project and the Riverwalk Trail Construction. These two facets of the village’s DRI strategic investment plan together will cost about $5 million in state DRI money once complete.

The trail project will involve construction of a looped multi-modal trail along the Raquette River, with a pocketpark, shared use path, mural walk and new bike lanes on Maple Street. The goal is to connect the trail to existing multi-modal connections downtown.

The Downtown Streetscape Enhancement Project will focus on streetscape improvements in the Market Street Historic District including intersection and safety improvements, new street lighting, tree plantings, and wayfinding and bioretention work.

“It’s a major $5 million undertaking,” Hanss said. “It’s a pretty complicated project with lots of moving parts.”

Hanss said the project will be a long term undertaking, with a firm contracted to handle the engineering work hired by sometime next fall, and then extensive study and design work to follow.

“The design process itself may take a while,” Hanss said. And, a coordinated environmental review will be done before that. All of this preliminary work could take as long as a year, the village planner said.

Another downtown initiative that is taking shape is the proposed Fall Island sculpture and skateboarding park.

The project, which is now a coordinated effort between SLC Arts and the village, was originally on the village’s list of projects to request state approval and DRI funding. However, the project didn’t make the final cut of state approved projects. Nonetheless, a group of community members and SLC Arts began researching how to fund and move the project forward regardless of the lack of state DRI investment.

However, two approved projects backed out of the DRI program earlier this year, freeing up potentially $718,000 to be used for other projects. The two projects which backed out were an expansion of Scoops ice cream into a 1950s themed seasonal diner and expansion of the Clarkson Inn with 20 rooms, meeting space, fitness room, and renovation of furniture and fixtures.

Hanss declined to comment on whether or not the project would receive any of the now available state DRI cash, and said that any final approval for funding will be made at the state level. “The ball is in the hands of the state,” Hanss said.

The skatepark project has garnered a great deal of public backing, and the village recently received letters of support for the work from Ben Burds and Courtney Kuno Burds of Kuno Oil Co Inc (Kunoco) and Clarkson University President Anthony G. Collins.

SLC Arts and the village hope to work with Pillar Design Studios, formed by Potsdam native Brad Siedlecki, on the overall build. Siedlecki’s company has built similar parks in Saranac Lake, Saratoga Springs and Syracuse. SLC Arts has spoken with the company and obtained a $600,000 estimate on the work for the 10,000 square foot park.