The Tupper Lake train depot on Main Street is seen Tuesday. (Enterprise photo — Ben Gocker)

TUPPER LAKE — For the third year in a row, the town of Tupper Lake is looking to take advantage of Smart Growth grant funding administered by the state Department of Environmental Conservation to boost local development. At the end of March, the town submitted an application seeking $75,000 to improve the community’s readiness for the planned Adirondack Rail Trail.

The town is hoping to build on two previous successful grant bids. In 2015, it received $75,000 to renovate the facade of the Tupper Lake visitor center on Park Street, and to help fund the redesign of area businesses’ websites. In 2016, in cooperation with the Adirondack Public Observatory, the town received a $70,000 grant to help fund the observatory’s expansion.

If received, this year’s grant funding will go toward developing an overarching Readiness Action Plan to prepare for the rail trail, a feasibility study and design concept for the train depot at Main Street and Washington Street, improvements to the depot’s parking lot, making Tupper Lake more “bike friendly,” and working with nearby towns and villages to provide a consistent rail trail experience.

The $50,000 grant funds would go toward the feasibility and design work, while $22,500 would be earmarked for bike amenities, and the remaining $2,500 spent on materials to improve the depot parking lot.

The town worked closely with the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism to craft the application.

“Maybe all (of the Rail Trail communities) will use the same bike racks, water bottle stations or signs,” Town Supervisor Patty Littlefield said. “We all pay to be part of ROOST and we want some regionality.”

With the greater Rail Trail project, ROOST is aiming to serve up this regionality without diluting individual characteristics of the connecting towns and villages.

“We met with stakeholders regularly to maintain consistency while also allowing those people who will be using the Rail Trail to experience what’s unique about the individual communities,” Michelle Clement, director of destination development projects at ROOST said.

Saranac Lake has also applied for a Smart Growth grant for improvements related to its portion of the proposed rail trail. At a recent village board meeting, a resolution was passed to support Tupper Lake in its pursuit of the grant, citing the benefits of regional cooperation.

In its grant application, the town of Tupper Lake received letters of support from a variety of businesses and organizations including: Next Stop! Tupper Lake, Big Tupper Brewing, Tupper Lake Tin Man, Shaheen’s Inn, Franklin County Office of Economic Development, the village of Tupper Lake, the Wild Center, and the Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce.

In her letter of support, Faith McClelland, owner of Spruce and Hemlock Country Store at 52 Lake St. wrote, “At a time when things are moving in the right direction for Tupper Lake, a project of this magnitude could really accelerate the process and allow our existing and future businesses to not just keep their doors open but to thrive.”

As with many grant funded projects, change could come slowly. The work plan period outlined in the grant extends from June 1 to Feb. 28, 2018, so even if the town receives the grant it would be nearly a year until the feasibility and design work is completed.

Much like the recent Little Wolf and Simon Pond redesign master plan, the town will be looking for public input with this project as well.

“At some point,” Littlefield said, “if we do get funded we’ll have a public session to get comments.”

Asked what he would like to see happen with the future terminus of the rail trail, Peter Boushie, owner of the handmade furniture store Touch of Wood, next to the Tupper Lake depot said, “To me it doesn’t make a difference, as long as it’s not a furniture store.”