BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

POTSDAM — The village is moving forward on the first part of an environmental review for a planned project to reroute a utility crossing from the bed of the Raquette River over the water as part of a pedestrian bridge.

At the village meeting Monday, July 15, the mayor and board of trustees passed several resolutions on various steps of a State Environmental Quality Review assessment for the project.

David Powers of engineering firm Barton & Loguidice gave an update on the SEQR to the board and said having the first part of the full environmental review process completed would help the village in securing state grant funds for the work.

“For this project we are going to be targeting the DEC’s water quality improvement project program,” he said. Powers said he had completed part 1 of the SEQR and was asking the village to sign off on the first part.

“To have a SEQR, at least part 1, done by the end of July would go a long way to make the project more fundable. They are really emphasizing project readiness and SEQR is one of those check boxes that we at least need to have underway,” he said.

During his presentation, Powers said the SEQR for the project should be pretty straightforward. The two species of local endangered wildlife, the long-eared bat and the monarch butterfly, would likely not be impacted by the work. He said there was nothing during the project that was going to cause a long-term impact to the environment, and there would be no additional contamination from the work.

He said overall there were no significant findings in part 1 of the SEQR.

The board passed a resolution authorizing and directing Mayor Alexandra Jacobs Wilke to execute a contract amendment with Barton-Loguidice for the preparation of a SEQRA Full Environmental Assessment for the proposed Raquette River Utility Crossing Project.

The firm will be paid $3,500 for the work. The funds are to be provided through the village’s general fund reserve.

A second resolution declaring the village as the lead agency for purposes of conducting the SEQR assessment of the project was also passed.