By CRAIG FREILICH

CANTON -- The village and town governing boards met Thursday morning for one more look at their $231,274 implementation grant application for the downtown waterfront revitalization plan.

“We’re waiting for one more letter and Trustee Carol Pynchon is giving the documents one last scan,” said Town Supervisor David Button after the two boards approved the application.

The state Consolidated Funding Application (CFA) paperwork is due Friday, so Canton’s application is about to be shipped off as part of the North Country Regional Economic Development Council’s package of requests in the annual competitive regional scramble for state grants.

“We just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page” before the application was sent off, Mayor Michael Dalton said.

“A lot of things are in the pipeline – doing studies, design, and implementation,” Dalton said.

The proposed work is aimed at improving the look and feel of downtown at the Grasse River, and raising the level of interest in visitors and locals to utilize a readily accessible activity feature that could generate tourist income and general interest in the village and town. It is also intended to stimulate development and use of other waterfront properties in an “appropriate mix of uses and densities that are compatible with the waterfront and historic Village,” a presentation from Supervisor Button said.

The application is focusing on three components: designing and building a waterfront pedestrian walkway “to promote safety and usage between islands”; acquiring and developing parcels along Riverside Drive for a hospitality center; and “design of a world-class whitewater park,” according to the presentation to board members.

The town and village are looking to split with the state the $462,548 in costs of acquiring Riverside Drive properties at the Grasse River ($170,000); design and construction of the hospitality center and parking and access facilities ($42,000); designing for Canton the whitewater park for paddlers on the Grasse ($30,000); designing and building a pedestrian pathway along the river ($216,5480); and $4,000 for anticipated legal costs.

As its 50 percent contribution, Canton would pay the $170,000 property acquisition cost, the $4,000 legal costs, $7,274 toward the parking and access to the waterfront at the hospitality center, and $50,000 toward labor on both the pathway and the Riverside Drive work, all totaling $231,274.

The rest, including the design work, would be paid from the state grant funds if they are awarded.

“If we are able to accomplish everything contained in the proposed grant application, the (aforementioned) goals of Canton’s 2011 Waterfront Revitalization Plan would be substantially achieved,” Button’s presentation said.

The goals of the waterfront plan include: to “Enhance existing and develop new waterfront parks to provide for greater public access and enjoyment of the Grasse River; Expand and enhance the land trails network and pedestrian linkages within and to the Waterfront Area”; and “Identify and develop new public access boat launches & conduct a feasibility study to develop a whitewater play park on Grasse River in the Village,” according to Supervisor Button’s presentation.

Button noted that the well-regarded waterpark consultants who are doing much of preparatory work, S2O Engineers, has said that Canton has some of the best water in northern New York.

Canton included many of the aspects of this grant application in their application for Governor Cuomo’s one-shot face-off against other North Country communities for a $10 million package of grants that was won by Plattsburgh earlier this month.