BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI
North Country This Week

MASSENA — Village and state officials held the first official Downtown Revitalization Initiative committee meeting on Monday, Feb. 14, outlining a strategy that would finalize the investment plan in July.

State representatives on the committee include Kylie Peck, Community Development Specialist from the New York Department of State, Stephen Hunt, Regional Director of the North Country Empire State Development office and Mary Barthelme, Project Manager with New York State Homes and Community Renewal.

Key planning support will come from Massena Village Administrator Monique Chatland and Economic Development Manager with NYPA, Patricia Wilson.

Officials say public input is key to ensuring the proper projects are awarded funding.

Community members will have an opportunity to engage with the committee through interactive virtual workshops, pop-up tables, online surveys, stakeholder meetings and the DRI website, officials say.

“Engagement opportunities will be compiled into what we call a Community Engagement plan, and that will be made available on the project website so the public can also understand how they can participate,” said Jaclyn Hakes, project manager for the consultant team.

The consultant team is led by M.J. Engineering and Land Surveying, P.C., who are based in Clifton Park.

Officials outlined the boundary for potential projects during the meeting as well.

The boundaries comprise Andrews St. west to Church St., Church St. south to W. Orvis St., W. Orvis St. west to Church St., E. Orvis St. east to Parker Ave., Glenn St. south to E. Orvis St., Phillips St. east to Water St., Main St. north to Maple St., Water St. northwest to Main St., Center St. east to Parker Ave. Bridge, and Maple St. east to Center St.

An open call for projects was also announced, with village officials saying they have received input and requests for numerous businesses that were not previously listed in the DRI application.

“We had our handful of projects already listed in the application but now that we have the funding, we are going to open things up to businesses in the downtown to apply for funding. A number have reached out to us, asking if it is too late to apply, so we encourage anyone interested to reach out,” Mayor Greg Paquin said during the board’s Jan. 18 meeting.

State officials awarded Massena the $10 million grant in December, despite facing stiff competition from both Ogdensburg and Canton locally.

The project schedule also includes finalizing the goals for the downtown, while formulating a draft proposal for the downtown profile.

Following in April, officials hope to have the preliminary project list to work off of, a finalized downtown profile and strategies to effectively move forward with each project.

Project profiles and strategies would need to be finalized in May, with document edits finalized in June, so officials can draft the DRI strategic investment plan.

By July, officials hope to have a final strategic investment plan outlining which projects were selected for funding, along with the total investment for each.