LAKE PLACID — Local officials want to hear from residents and businessowners as they consider applying for state grant funding for a potential Mill Hill development project.

New York state has a number of programs — including the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and NY Forward — that allow local governments to back a slate of projects that it believes could revitalize an area with the help of state investment or tax breaks. Both Tupper Lake, which was chosen as a $10 million DRI winner in 2022, and Saranac Lake, chosen as a DRI winner in 2018, saw around $10 million in state funding approved for 10 projects throughout the villages.

Lake Placid officials are focusing on the area in and around Mill Hill between the Downtown Diner at 2728 Main St. and the Adirondack Corner Store at 188 Newman Road. This corridor connects state Route 73/Cascade Road to Lake Placid’s business district on Main Street.

“We want to capitalize on the state investment in the rail-trail corridor and pursue an opportunity to reinvigorate the historical character of this area,” the town, village and the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism wrote in a joint statement Monday.

The 34-mile Adirondack Rail Trail, which the state is putting close to $38 million into, is expected to become a “major destination” that will draw between 56,000 and 800,000 visitors annually, based on a state Department of Environmental Conservation study.

The Mill Hill area has plenty of history. The hamlet of Newman, which includes Mill Pond, once had its own post office. Lake Placid’s Willis Wells opened a popular general store at the corner of Main Street and Mill Hill as a young man. The store grew to supply many residents with just about all of their daily essentials — everything from “a toothpick, a tractor, an automobile, a yard of gingham, an ice cream soda, or a suit of clothes,” according to a 1931 article in the Lake Placid News. Wells was later elected North Elba town supervisor and served for many years. Near the former Lake Placid train station on Station Street — now the location of the Lake Placid-North Elba Historical Society’s museum — 1924 Olympic gold medalist Charles Jewtraw honed his skills as a young speedskater on a frozen Mill Pond.

As of Monday, there were no draft project proposals for the Mill Hill area yet, but local officials hope to hear from private business owners about their interests in this specific area and from residents on the possibility of revitalization efforts there at an upcoming community meeting.

“Specific project details are still in the earliest stages of discussion,” a news release from the town and village reads. “The town and village seek input … to determine feasibility and help shape potential proposals.”

A community meeting has been scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19 at Lisa G’s, 6125 Sentinel Road. Representatives from the town of North Elba and village of Lake Placid plan to start the meeting off with a short presentation before opening it up for questions-and-answers.

“This is meant to be an initial introduction to DRI/NYF and if we get positive feedback from the businesses and public there will be many more meetings and opportunities for feedback,” the town, village and the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism wrote in a joint statement.

The DRI process, specifically, tends to take years. A local DRI committee will typically spearhead the process of curating a list of projects after numerous meetings and public feedback-gathering events. The committee will submit its proposal to the state, which will ultimately decide whether or not a municipality will receive funding and, if so, which projects will get financial support. After that, the approved projects — which could be public projects, such as streetscape improvements by the village of Saranac Lake, for example, or private ones, such as the relocation of the Pendragon Theatre in Saranac Lake — may take years to come to fruition. Some projects, such as the cornerstone of the city of Plattsburgh’s DRI — its Durkee Street project — may never come to fruition. The city was awarded its DRI in 2016 and the private Durkee Street project had a 2022 deadline in early DRI documents. The project never broke ground.

The DRI and NY Forward both aim to “offer opportunities for strategic investments in infrastructure, economic development, and community enhancement projects aimed at fostering growth and improving quality of life,” a news release from the town and village reads.

The municipalities are considering applying for state funding either this year or next year. The village of Lake Placid last signaled its intention to apply for the DRI in 2020, but a formal submission did not come to fruition.