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Village may loan $200k to Dew Drop owners

Land use code adoption also on Monday’s Saranac Lake board agenda

This design shows Calli Shelton and Randy Coles’ plan for the facade of 27 Broadway, a restaurant to replace the former Dew Drop Inn in the downtown Saranac Lake building they bought this summer. (Image provided)

SARANAC LAKE — The village Board of Trustees will consider making a big loan to the owners of the former Dew Drop Inn at its regular meeting Monday evening.

The board will also take up adoption of the proposed land use code, with a few modifications, and consider granting a local business $5,000 for handicapped disability improvements.

27 Broadway loan

A resolution on the board’s agenda would approve an economic development loan of $200,000 to Chicota Inc., a company formed by Calli Shelton and Randy Coles. The Texas couple purchased the former Dew Drop Inn earlier this year from Ed Dukett for $225,000 and plan to reopen it as a restaurant called 27 Broadway and a bar called Bootlegger’s.

“The purpose of the loan is (to) undertake demolition, stabilization work and interior improvements at 27 Broadway,” the resolution states.

The money will come from a revolving loan fund the village maintains to finance business, housing and other community development projects.

The loan application from Shelton and Coles was reviewed by the Adirondack Economic Development Corporation, which the village works with on potential economic development loans. AEDC suggested ways to structure the loan and provide adequate security to the village, according to the resolution.

The term of the loan will be 12 months with a fixed interest rate of 1 percent, the resolution says.

Earlier this year, the Saranac Lake Local Development Corporation requested $500,000 in state grant money through the North Country Regional Economic Development Council for facade renovation and related construction to the former Dew Drop Inn. The project wasn’t selected as one of the NCREDC’s priority projects for state economic development funding this year — the priority projects were announced last month — but the regional council named it as a project supporting the state’s downtown revitalization agenda.

Code adoption

The board is also scheduled to vote on adoption of the proposed land use code. Following a public hearing at its last meeting, several minor, non-material changes have been made to the document, which has been years in the making.

There doesn’t appear to be any plan to rescind one of the biggest changes to the code. Several speakers had asked the board to reconsider combining the village’s Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals into a new Development Board.

The resolution about adopting the code on Monday’s agenda says combining the two should “provide net benefits to the village from efficiencies in administration and the regulatory process compared to the benefits of keeping two separate boards.

“The village board asks the Community Development director to monitor this change and to periodically advise the village board on its value,” the resolution reads.

Nori’s funding

In other business Monday, the village board is slated to approve a $5,000 award to Andy Keal and Heidi Kretser of Nori’s Village Market for handicapped accessibility improvements made to the grocery store at 39 Woodruff St., which specializes in “local, organic and natural provisions.”

The money comes from the Saranac Lake Access for Everyone Grant Fund, created by the village in 2014 using $25,000 in community development funds. It provides matching grants of up to $5,000 to commercial property owners for improvements that increase accessibility in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the state Fire Prevention and Building Code.

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