LAKE PLACID — The town of North Elba and village of Lake Placid will host a public open house on Thursday, Sept. 26 for the community to participate in the planning of the community’s upcoming application for the Downtown Revitalization Initiative Grant.

“We encourage anyone with a business in this area, an idea for a project or an interest in shaping the future of the town and village to drop in to participate. Your input is essential as we work together to shape the future of our community,” reads a press release from the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism.

The event is scheduled to run from 4 to 7 p.m. at 242 Station St., the former train station which is currently owned and operated by the Lake Placid-North Elba Historical Society.

Representatives from the town and village, as well as ROOST will be on hand to “preview the area of focus map along with the preliminary list of projects, and to offer suggestions for private and public projects,” according to the press release.

The meeting will focus on the lower area of Main Street, which begins around the Lake Placid Post Office and extends south and west to the former train station. This expands on a March DRI meeting that focused on the Mill Hill area, between the Downtown Diner at 2728 Main St. and the Adirondack Corner Store at 188 Newman Road.

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The application process

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Communities have until Oct. 18 to submit their DRI applications. The process is competitive, with only 10 communities from across the state being chosen each year, one from each economic development region. Communities are chosen based on their ability to identify a set of cohesive projects that would be ready to begin if chosen, according to the state’s brochure. Projects can be organized by a combination of public, private or nonprofit groups, but should be compatible with each other, the document advises.

New York is divided into 10 EDRs. The North Country region is made up of seven counties: Essex, Franklin, Clinton, Hamilton, St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Lewis. One community from each region is selected each year to receive a DRI grant. Last year, the village of Lowville in Lewis County was selected as the winner. Locally, Tupper Lake was the region’s winner in 2022 and Saranac Lake won in 2018.

Each EDR has a council made of business leaders throughout the area that reviews applications and nominates a winner to the state Department of State, which has the final say on choosing a community. Winners are typically announced by the state at the end of the calendar year, according to Adam DeSantis, who serves as the director of economic development at ROOST.

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Being a winner is just the beginning

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Each winner receives $10 million from the state, although the money is not actually awarded at this point. Rather, according to DeSantis, a group of consultants is assigned by the state to decide which specific projects will be chosen and how much money is awarded to each project.

The DRI program was started in 2016. It was started “to accelerate and expand the revitalization of downtowns in all ten regions of the State so that they serve as centers of activity and catalysts for increased local investments,” according to the state’s brochure on the program. While Lake Placid signaled its intent to apply in 2020, no grant was submitted. DeSantis said he believed that this is the first year the community is moving forward with the application, which he said is fueled by local interest.

“The DRI is a community effort, and it would never get off the ground if we didn’t have feedback and suggestions from our community,” he said.