The North Country Regional Economic Development Council has recommended funding $500,000 for wastewater collection system improvements at the former Heritage Cheese plant in Heuvelton.

NCREDC has also endorsed St. Lawrence County’s proposal designating the former GM site east of Massena as a part of the CSX Railroad Select Site program.

The Heuvelton wastewater collection system improvements would make it more feasible to market the plant to a new business.

With Losurdo and SunOpta located in the village, there is a possibility that a similar value-added agriculture firm might locate there and create additional jobs as existing businesses look at expansion and adding new product lines, according to Empire State Development, officials said.

Pending submission of applications, the funding would align with NCREDC’s “strategic plan” of implementing critical water and sewer infrastructure projects in the North Country. Nine projects within the region – St. Lawrence, Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Lewis counties – are due $2.5 million in funding that will leverage nearly $26 million in additional investment.

The CSX Railroad Select Site designation will add the Massena location to the CSX marketing plan, promoting the region’s assets to prospective expanding companies to encourage development and create jobs.

Also at its meeting in Potsdam Tuesday, the NCREDC provided an overview of the status of its priority projects, as well as the State’s Innovation Hotspots/Regional Incubator Program.

The Innovation Hotspots Program provides a statewide competition to create or designate “innovation hot spots” intended to support inventors and entrepreneurs as they grow their businesses, by creating tax-free zones and a collaborative environment to work and share best business practices. Winning incubators will receive financial support services from the state, including legal, technical and business support services, as well as up to $1.25 million for the Business Incubator and Innovation Hot Spot Program through the regional councils.

“The Innovation Hot Spot initiative introduced by Governor Cuomo meshes with the approach Clarkson University has taken over the last several years to commercialize academic research,” said Anthony G. Collins, President of Clarkson University and Council Co-Chair.

“In collaboration with industry and other higher education institutions, Clarkson drives high-tech innovation through its Shipley Center for Innovation and a business incubator located in Peyton Hall in downtown Potsdam. The North Country institutions of higher learning work well together and welcome the opportunity to further partner with the state and match efforts in order to accelerate the transition of technology from laboratories to the marketplace that will attract and retain sustainable jobs.”