POTSDAM – The first meeting of the Village of Potsdam Downtown Revitalization Initiative Local Planning Committee (LPC) is set for Tuesday, Dec. 17 in the Potsdam Community Room, 2 Park St., 3rd Floor.

The LPC meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m., with an opportunity for public comment at the end of the meeting.

This meeting will kick off discussion of how best to use the $10 million grant the village received in Gov. Cuomo’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI).

Town officials encourage attendance by interested members of the community. It is important to note that while the village has received a $10 million grant, and in its application the village had plenty of ideas how to use the money, none of it is spent yet, none of it is allocated or promised to anyone. These meeting will be held to sort out priorities and organize plans for action. The committee is open to new ideas that might not have been addressed in the grant application.

The Local Planning Committee (LPC) is made up of local and regional leaders, stakeholders, and community representatives. LPC members will attend a variety of meetings at which they will be asked to brainstorm ideas, provide direction to consultants, review planning products, and prioritize actions. Mayor Reinhold Tischler and Kristin Esterberg of the State University of New York at Potsdam are the Potsdam LPC co-chairs.

The consultant team selected to assist in developing the DRI strategic investment plan is being led by M.J. Engineering and Land Surveying, P.C. of Clifton Park and includes Environmental Design & Research, Landscape Architecture, Engineering & Environmental Services, D.P.C.; CLA SITE Landscape Architecture, Engineering & Planning, PC, in Saratoga Springs; Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture and Preservation LLP, Albany; E.M. Pemrick and Company, Economic and Development Services, Ballston Lake; and Captain Consultants, LLC, Clifton Park.

Public engagement is a key component of the DRI planning process and fundamental to the success of the DRI, said Village of Potsdam Planning and Development Office Director Fred Hanss in the announcement of the meeting.

“The objective of public engagement is to ensure that all stakeholders have ample opportunity to know and understand the DRI process and its intended outcomes; to comment on the study as it progresses; to express their concerns and contribute ideas; and to participate in building a consensus about the vision for the Downtown and other outcomes, culminating in a locally supported DRI Strategic Investment Plan,” Hanss said in his announcement of the beginning of local work for the grant.

Public workshops and engagement activities will be scheduled throughout the effort to allow opportunity for public input. More information about the DRI can be found at www.ny.gov/dri.

The DRI is intended to rejuvenate downtown neighborhoods for vibrant communities. In its fourth year, the program will invest $100 million --$10 million each -- into 10 additional downtown neighborhoods across the state.

Participating communities are nominated by the state’s ten Regional Economic Development Councils (REDCs) based on the downtown’s potential for transformation, and each community is awarded $10 million to develop a downtown strategic investment plan and implement key projects that catalyze the community’s vision for revitalization. The Village of Potsdam was recently selected as the North Country DRI community.

The DRI will employ a state-local partnership that includes a Local Planning Committee (LPC), a consultant team, and state agency staff. With support from municipal staff and input from the public, it is hoped this partnership will achieve the vision and goals for revitalization of the downtown.