By JIMMY LAWTON

COLTON – The St. Lawrence County Trail Advisory Board hopes to replace a bridge with help from the St. Lawrence River Valley Redevelopment Agency.

County legislators, on behalf of the Trail Advisory Board, agreed to seek a $70,000 grant for the replacement of a bridge in Dead Creek, South Colton, at a finance committee meeting Monday.

The bridge is at the center of the county’s multi-use recreational trail.

The grant would be through the St. Lawrence River Valley Redevelopment Agency’s community development and improvement fund.

The application would call for up to $70,000 for bridge replacement. In order to receive the grant the county is required to make a 10 percent match, with at least half of that provided by the applicant.

The resolution passed by the finance committee says St. Lawrence County shall provide the required 10 percent local cash match, up to an amount of $3,500, and local in-kind match of $3,500.

The River Agency was formed in 2010 to administer funds established and set aside through the New York Power Authority (NYPA) for economic development activities and programs.

The agency was established in 2010 and granted $16 million for economic development in the north country by the New York Power Authority as a reconciliation for discrepancies between NYPA's 50-year federal relicensing settlement to operate the St. Lawrence-FDR power dam in Massena and the deal it holds to operate the Niagara hydro dam in Western New York.