Source: United States Senator for New York Charles E Schumer
08.11.21
Senators Secure Money For Eight Northern Border Regional Commission Projects In The Cities of Troy, Batavia, And Ogdensburg; Villages of Tupper Lake, Lima, and Potsdam; And For Wells College And The Lake Champlain-Lake George Regional Planning Board
Funding Will Jumpstart Projects Critical To Upstate NY’s Health, Economic Growth, and Connectivity
Schumer, Gillibrand: Jobs & Support For Communities On The Way
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $4,661,981 in federal funding for eight projects which are key to the continued economic growth of the communities they serve. The projects range from critical infrastructure, like broadband and sewage, to housing analysis. The funding was allocated through the Northern Border Regional Commission’s (NBRC) State Economic & Infrastructure Development Investment Program to support infrastructure projects and other initiatives that create jobs, support entrepreneurs, and strengthen the economy in northern border communities.
“The Northern Border Regional Commission has a special role to play spurring economic development and creating jobs. This funding will provide support to communities across Upstate New York, working to complete priority projects,” said Senator Schumer. “I am proud to support this essential funding in congress and will continue to fight to ensure it supports critical projects across Upstate New York.”
“After more than a year of grappling with financial hardship caused by the pandemic, New York communities are relying on investments like this to attract new businesses, create good-paying jobs, and revitalize our communities,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Now more than ever, I am grateful for our valuable partnership with the Northern Border Regional Commission that will help New York’s local economies recover from the massive financial losses incurred during the pandemic and will continue to spur economic growth for years to come. I will continue fighting for funding that will help sustain Upstate New York economies through this difficult time and make necessary investments in infrastructure and other critical resources.”
The NBRC is a federal-state partnership focused on the economic revitalization of communities across the Northern Border region, which includes northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. The Commission is composed of the governors of the four Northern Border states and a federal co-chair, and provides financial and technical assistance to communities in the region to support entrepreneurs, improve water, broadband, and transportation infrastructure, and promote other initiatives to improve the region’s economy. The northern border region of New York State includes 28 counties: Cayuga, Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Genesee, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Livingston, Madison, Montgomery, Niagara, Oneida, Orleans, Oswego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Seneca, St. Lawrence, Sullivan, Washington, Warren, Wayne, Yates.
Below is a breakdown of funding levels:
|
RECIPIENT |
FUNDING AMOUNT |
PROJECT |
|
Lewis County |
$263,053 |
The project will provide affordable, reliable and high-speed broadband to approximately 1,173 homes and businesses covering a 10 mile radius to include the Village of Copenhagen and surrounding rural communities that are currently underserved or have no access to Internet. |
|
Lake Champlain-Lake George Regional Planning Board |
$160,000 |
The project will conduct an inventory of the available area median income housing/rental units and an economic analysis of unmet housing needs before producing a strategy for addressing the identified issues. |
|
Wells College |
$1,000,000 |
The project will replace two DE filters in an aging municipal water treatment plant lacking typical redundancies in a community with no alternative water source, and therefore will increase both water quality and treatment efficiency, avoid a public health crisis, and retain local jobs and businesses. |
|
City of Batavia |
$334,000 |
The City of Batavia will install 950 linear feet of 8-inch diameter water main along Bank St. This will replace undersized and aging, 90+ yr old water lines (output). This project will improve reliability, increase firefighting flows and supply water needed for redevelopment projects |
|
Village of Tupper Lake, Franklin County |
$500,000 |
The Village of Tupper Lake will construct infrastructure upgrades required for redevelopment of the highly visible and centrally-located 120,000 sq ft former OWD facility as workforce and market-rate housing, a production brewery, taproom and restaurant, and an entrepreneurial business center. |
|
Village of Lima |
$664,960 |
The Village of Lima will partner with Empire Long Distance Corporation to build a 12.4 mile fiber optic network. The XGS PON network will provide businesses and residents in the Village with internet speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second. |
|
City of Ogdensburg |
$1,000,000 |
The project will replace a pump station’s critical equipment, including pumps, controls, system communications, electrical, heating and ventilating and plumbing systems, to reliably collect and transport liquid waste from the west side of the City to the WWTP for treatment. |
|
Village of Potsdam |
$279,968 |
Potsdam proposes to invest in the construction of a new 300’ 2-way street in its downtown including sidewalks, streetlighting and transit improvements. The effort will aid in the commercial revitalization of a blighted area of downtown Potsdam that is poised for new growth. |
|
Orleans Land Restoration Corp. |
$460,000 |
The Project will reconstruct the public Team Track in Medina, build a new Team Track in Holley, and complete preliminary engineering to extend rail access to the new Medina Business Park South in Shelby, to retain existing jobs and provide for future industrial development in Orleans County. |
Senator Schumer’s letter of support for Wells College appears below:
Dear Mr. Parker:
I am pleased to write in support of the application submitted by Wells College to the
Northern Border Regional Commission.
Recently, the Cayuga County Board of Health has identified Wells College water plant as an urgent public health infrastructure need, with aging water collection and treatment posing a significant threat to the drinking water of the College and surrounding Village. Built in 1929, the Wells water plant met the needs of the College’s campus. In the 1930’s, the Village’s water infrastructure was connected with the campus system and the Wells plant began providing water to all residents and business in the Village of Aurora. Currently, the system supplies 25 million gallons of water per year to a campus population of 700, along with 150 residences and a dozen businesses.
With funding, Wells College seeks to address the water plant’s greatest need – replacement of two DE filters that are operating past their expected lifespan and are damaged.
These filters cannot adequately manage water quality, causing the plant to shut down at high turbidity. This project will provide an updated, improved and appropriately rated DE filtration system, improving water quality and production efficiency.
I applaud Wells College for its foresight and sincerely hope the application meets with your approval.
Thank you for your consideration. Please do not hesitate to contact me or my Grants Coordinator in my Washington DC office at 202-224-6542.
Sincerely,
Senator Schumer’s letter of support for the City of Batavia appears below:
Dear Mr. Parker:
I am pleased to write in support of the City of Batavia’s application to the Northern Border Regional Commission Infrastructure Grant Program for the Bank Street Water Project.
The upgrades to infrastructure brought on by securing this grant would support both public and private development along Bank St., including the progress being made at the City Center and Batavia Healthy Living Campus. Further, this investment will allow for an increasing number of residential and commercial units to be developed resulting in additional residents and visitors present within the downtown area.
This project aligns with the strategies laid out by the Governor’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) Investment Plan and New York State Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) as well as being in a federally designated Opportunity Zone. Specific projects that the waterline would enable include the construction of a new police station, construction of $22 Million mixed-use development and would complement the $20M YMCA/UMMC’s Healthy Living Campus development.
There is over $50M in public/private development in downtown Batavia, and this will be a welcomed investment that helps City as a whole, as well as the local business community, community institutions and quality of life.
I applaud the City of Batavia for its foresight and sincerely hope the application meets with your approval.
Thank you for your consideration. Please do not hesitate to contact me or my Grants Coordinator in my Washington. DC office at 202-224-6542.
Sincerely,
Senator Schumer’s letter of support for Orleans Land Restoration Corp. appears below:
Dear Mr. Parker:
I am pleased to write in support of the application submitted by the Orleans County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA) to the Northern Border Regional
Commission (NBRC) for funding to reconstruct the public siding train track in Medina, NY and build a new siding track in Holley, NY.
With funding, the OCIDA will reconstruct and build new siding tracks in the towns of Medina and Holley, and complete preliminary engineering. This will extend rail access to the new Medina Business Park South in Shelby, NY. This vital access will provide for future industrial development in Orleans County, as well as retain existing jobs.
I applaud the Orleans County Industrial Development Agency for its foresight, and sincerely hope the application meets with your approval. Thank you for your consideration. Please do not hesitate to contact me or my Grants Coordinator in my Washington, DC office at 202-224-6542.
Sincerely,
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