The proposed target area for the Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant Tupper Lake plans to apply for. (Photo provided)

TUPPER LAKE — Village officials are shooting their shot in hopes of landing a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant for Tupper Lake this year.

Village officials want input from the community — thoughts, opinions, ideas and suggestions on how the money should be spent if Tupper Lake were to win the state grant funding.

The DRI application process is competitive, with many cities, towns and villages applying for a piece of the multi-million dollar pie each year.

The state, through its DRI program, awards $10 million in grant funding to different municipalities around the state each year. This year, the state doubled its funding for the DRI program, so each of the state’s 10 regions has the opportunity to receive up to $20 million, instead of the usual $10 million. That $20 million could be split between two municipalities, or all go to one. In this area, that decision would be up to the North Country Regional Economic Development Council.

There was no 2020 round of the DRI because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The village of Saranac Lake got the DRI award in 2018. The process of putting the money into projects is ongoing. Plattsburgh, Watertown and Potsdam have also won DRI awards. Lake Placid has considered applying in the past.

This year marks the fifth round of DRI funding.

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Reason for application

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Tupper Lake Director of Community Development Melissa McManus said Tupper Lake has never applied for a DRI grant before.

She said recent progress on Park Street, and with the proposed redevelopment of the former Oval Wood Dish Factory, Tupper Lake leaders believe the village is showing a strong record and a promising future to bank a DRI award on.

Tupper Lake Village Mayor Paul Maroun said putting together a DRI application is a “monumental task.” He hopes the final application is strong and has high hopes for Tupper Lake’s chances of being chosen.

“Based on the OWD housing project, new business development, the success of Tupper Arts, and our village board’s work to improve our park, walkways, baseball diamond and Little Loggers playground, I believe Tupper Lake’s prospects for winning a DRI Grant of $10 million are extremely good,” Maroun said in a statement.

DRI applications are due on Sept. 15. Money to winning communities is usually dispersed within two years of the award.

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Where would the money go?

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The DRI proposal announcement from the village lists improvements to existing businesses, park improvements and restoration of historic buildings on Park Street as priorities.

The announcement lists a target area for where the money would be spent, starting in the Park Street commercial district, running through the waterfront Municipal Park and ending further down Demars Boulevard where the former Oval Wood Dish factory sits.

The exact boundary will be set at the end of the month when the project proposals are finalized.

Tupper Lake has contracted with Elan Planning & Design, an architecture, planning and design firm from Saratoga Springs, to prepare the DRI application.

McManus said she is seeking businesses and organizations to apply to be included in the project list. She can be contacted at tupperlakecommunitydevelopment@gmail.com. She has no official applicants yet, she said.

The Tupper Lake Business Group’s requests that the town and village invest in recreation trails, including mountain bike, cross country ski and snowmobile trails, would not be eligible for these DRI funds, because they are outside of the downtown area.

Survey

There will be two online community surveys conducted to get input on how residents would want this potential pot of money to be spent.

The first survey started Wednesday and will be open until this coming Wednesday. The 16-question anonymous survey can be accessed directly at https://bit.ly/2U7jmcy or found on the DRI application page tupperlakedri.com

The second survey will be online from Aug. 25 to Sept. 1.

The survey includes questions about what things people like and already use in Tupper Lake, what they’d like built, how often they use existing services and if they like Tupper Lake’s community vision statement.