BY CRAIG FREILICH
North Country This Week

POTSDAM – The village is seeking grant funds to move forward with its examining and rebuilding of the century-old crosstown drainage canal.

The Board of Trustees approved a resolution authorizing Mayor Ron Tischler to submit a proposal through the state Consolidated Funding Application process for $250,000 for the Cross-town Canal Resiliency Project.

The village has secured $250,000 in matching funds for the multi-year, multimillion dollar project, including $150,000 from the village’s general fund and a $100,000 pledge from Clarkson University for their participation in the project, according to the resolution approved by the board at their meeting Monday night.

The university is seeking a grant for their share, which they would use to purchase a crawling robot with cameras and GPS capability to allow further investigation of the canal to provide a new assessment of its condition and to spot particular areas where work would be required, according to the village’s Director of Planning and Development Fred Hanss.

The next planned work on the canal is at the river end, where the canal drains surface water from east of the river through the village. Brush, trees and sediment are restricting the flow there.

Hanss also said another phase of the work would include extending the canal inlet behind St. Mary’s Church and the public schools to “add some retention capacity” aimed at easing the flow of storm water which has plagued some downtown neighborhoods.

Being able to use the robot Clarkson wants to acquire would be “a critical step” in designing and carrying out the work needed to improve the canal, Hanss said.

It has been estimated that $15 million worth of work in several phases will be required to bring the canal up to its desired capacity.

One major step was achieved in 2017 when a clog that had been restricting flow was removed. Since it was first built, water and sewer lines had been put in that interfered with the canal, and those lines were reset.

In 2010, a serious storm that was preceded by 28 days of measurable rainfall led to widespread flooding affecting about 50 homes in the Leroy and Clinton street neighborhood and around Pleasant Street between Waverly and Market streets, shedding light on what had been a growing problem.

Residents of the area said that was the worst of the flooding, but that the area was and continues to be susceptible to flooding.