Grant Projects Selected

After months of weighing projects to move to the next round of the Village of Waterville’s New York Forward grant, the Local Committee finalized the list last week.

At the committee’s fifth and final public meeting, all the projects were reviewed.

Information included the request for grant funding, other financial input, total cost of the project, how it fits into the community, whether it is transformational and how ready is it to go.

Department of State official Danny Lapin said Waterville applicants and the Village provided a lot of information for dividing the funding of the $4.5 million grant.

The list will be given to the state, with Gov. Kathy Hochul expected to announce those receiving funding in the Spring.

Not all projects chosen last week will receive money from the $4.5 million won by the Village earlier this year.

Some will receive funding from other state sources and some will not be given state money.

About $14 million in requests were made; the list going to the state has about $8 million in funding requests.

All but two of the projects reviewed were advanced to the next round.

Two projects moved to the pipeline, the term to designate those unlikely to meet all the requirements of time and financial input for a NY Forward grant.

One is a plan on Tower Street for six apartments for short-term rentals.

The grant request was called high at $1.1 million for the $1.4 million project.

The other project not put forward generated the most discussion by the committee.

Renovation plans for the former Waterville Opera House, which was requesting a little more than half the grant’s total at $2.7 million.

The full project is estimated at $3.6 million. The owner did not identify the type of commercial businesses that would be part of the space.

The committee had concerns on the project’s readiness as well.

Committee members discussed the feasibility of renovating the theatre for movies or performances to make it financially stable.

Renovating the former field days grounds was also eliminated because the Community Center needs to be built first.

A multi-use trail along the creek also in that area was put ...