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Rehab of vacant McDonald’s, Jubilee buildings part of Canton’s proposed $10 million downtown grant

Posted 5/26/19

North Country This Week CANTON — What could Canton do with a cool $10 million? Outdoor concert venue? Public curling court? Reuse of the vacant Jubliee and McDonald’s buildings? The town and …

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Rehab of vacant McDonald’s, Jubilee buildings part of Canton’s proposed $10 million downtown grant

Posted

North Country This Week

CANTON — What could Canton do with a cool $10 million? Outdoor concert venue? Public curling court? Reuse of the vacant Jubliee and McDonald’s buildings?

The town and village are in the process of gathering ideas from the public for projects, initiatives and programs that could be funded by a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant offered by the state this year in a competitive process among communities around New York.

Canton recently wrapped up two public focus sessions to gather ideas and suggestions for projects which could be funded by the grant. A third meeting is slated for Wednesday, May 22, at the municipal building, 60 Main St, at 7 p.m.

With years of studies and several detailed development plans under its belt, along with a few redevelopment projects completed and underway, Canton could be positioned very competitively to win the funding this year.

“We’ve done a lot of thinking and a lot of public vetting of ideas in the last decade,” said Leigh Rodriguez, Canton Economic Development Director. “We are selling a concept and showing that we do have some projects that are ready.”

The governor has designated $100 million in DRI funding in the state budget, and the program will award $10 million each to 10 communities to transform and enhance their downtowns into vibrant communities. 

This will be the fourth year in a row that the state has funded the program. In the North Country region of the state, Plattsburgh won the funding three years ago, Watertown two years ago and Saranac Lake took the prize last year.

Several other St. Lawrence communities are also applying for the funding this year.

At Canton’s forums, ideas offered ranged from installing a whitewater park, building a Rushton boat museum, Frederic Remington’s birthplace, an outdoor performance space, rehabilitating the former McDonald’s lot, a public curling court and rehabilitating Canton’s below ground storefronts. Ideas for job growth, how to bring more retail establishments to downtown storefronts and additional residential units were also discussed.

With just nine questions or areas on the initial application to fill out, the DRI application process is somewhat more open-ended than many grant opportunities pursued by municipalities. 

Rodriguez said the grant would be transformative and said the money, leveraged with required private investment for various projects, could be used to build out Canton’s potential projects to a greater degree, “but also have a holistic approach to the whole downtown area,” she said.

She said the application Canton will submit will focus on things signage, arts and cultural enhancement and programmatic initiatives. Things like facade improvements and enhanced lighting downtown could be part of those initiatives. “These are all ways we can attract more people into downtown,” Rodriguez said.

Some key areas that could be addressed with the DRI money would be the Riverside Drive redevelopment efforts, marketing or rehabbing the recently closed Family Dollar and redevelopment of the Jubilee. “It’s (Jubliee plaza) essentially vacant. That would be transformative,” she said.

“We’ve done a lot of planning,” she said, listing several of the studies the community has conducted over the years including the ongoing Comprehensive Plan, Waterfront Revitalization Plan, Community Action Plan, Brownfield Opportunity Area Plan, the Grasse River Blue Way Trail Plan and the Master Trail Plan.

Applications need to be finished and submitted by the end of this month.

Rodriguez said it would be several months before the state awards the DRI, anticipating that an announcement could be made in September or October this year.

The North Country Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) will review the DRI applications, gauging the potential for transformation driven by the funding in the applying communities. Nominated applications will then be forwarded to a state selection team.

The council will judge the application on the following criteria, according to the state’s DRI website:

• The downtown should be compact, with well-defined boundaries

• The downtown is able to capitalize on prior or catalyze future private and public investment in the neighborhood and its surrounding areas

• There should be recent or impending job growth within, or in close proximity to the downtown that can attract workers to the downtown, support redevelopment and make growth sustainable

• The downtown must be an attractive and livable community for diverse populations of all ages, including existing residents, millennials and skilled workers

• The municipality should already embrace or have the ability to create and implement policies that increase livability and quality of life, including the use of local land banks, modern zoning codes and parking standards, complete streets plans, energy efficient projects, green jobs and transit-oriented development

• The municipality should have conducted an open and robust community engagement process resulting in a vision for downtown revitalization and a preliminary list of projects and initiatives that may be included in a DRI strategic investment plan, and

• The municipality has identified transformative projects that will be ready for implementation with an infusion of DRI funds within the first one to two years.

To learn more about Canton’s application process visit https://cantondri.weebly.com/.

For more information on the DRI, visit https://www.ny.gov/programs/downtown-revitalization-initiative.

To submit ideas or thoughts on the grant, the public can contact Rodriguez at 315-386-2871 ext. 5, or lrodriguez@cantonny.gov.