LAKE PLACID — At a board meeting Tuesday, Sept. 10, the North Elba Town Council heard a presentation on a feasibility study for a sidewalk on Wesvalley and Cummings roads. The board also discussed ongoing plans for renovations at the North Elba Show Grounds.

Mark and Khar Suozzo represented their engineering firm, Suozzo, Doty and Associates, in a presentation to the board. The firm was hired by the town to conduct a feasibility study on a sidewalk planned for a section of Wesvalley and Cummings roads that stretches a little over a mile.

The plan uses the sidewalk around Mirror Lake as a model and would include crosswalks at Nash and Elm streets, Oneida Avenue, Cooper Way, Cummings Road and at the McKenzie Overlook apartments.

“We know how much people in there are utilizing the road,” Khar said. “Even nowadays, when we drive by, we definitely see people walking out from that (McKenzie) development and walking along the road — so it’s not safe.”

Like the sidewalk at Mirror Lake, the planned sidewalk would be 6 feet wide and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant.

The cost of the project is mainly driven by utilities that are located along the path of the sidewalk, Khar said in her presentation. Utility relocation, as well as land acquisition and stormwater infrastructure, contribute to an estimated cost around $3 million. Financed over 25 years, the town would likely pay a yearly debt payment of around $126,000, according to Suozzo’s presentation.

The project is still early in the planning process, and the same information from the feasibility study would be repurposed as the town begins to explore funding options.

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Show grounds renovations

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The yet-to-be-unveiled master plan that will include sizable renovations for the North Elba Show Grounds will most likely begin with a more immediate need — replacing the roofs of the current buildings, North Elba town Supervisor Derek Doty said on Sept. 11. At Tuesday’s meeting, Doty urged the council to approve roof renovations as soon as possible, with the goal of replacing at least some of the roofs before winter. Doty is in the process of researching and securing bids for the roofing project.

This is the beginning of a much larger renovation project that Doty said they are collaborating with the Lake Placid Horse Show Association to plan and fund.