The mayors of New Paltz and Ellenville are working on filling in what’s presently a vague sketch plan for what projects to include in a joint application for a $10 million Downtown Revitalization initiative (DRI) plans. With regional decision-makers explicitly encouraging joint applications, this village-and-village plan was announced earlier this month, with references to commonalities such as struggles with opioid use and the presence of an historic Smiley carriage road that connects the communities in some sense.
A public information session regarding the joint DRI grant application will be held by the Village of New Paltz on Wednesday, September 7, 7 p.m. at Village Hall, 25 Plattekill Avenue, in the Fire Department meeting room. The meeting will also be held via Zoom and streaming to YouTube. The meeting will be linked to a partner meeting in the Village of Ellenville, being held at the Village office building, 2 Elting Court in Ellenville, via Zoom. Links to join the meeting will be posted on the Village website. Information about the grant proposal can be found at: https://sites.google.com/view/new-paltz-revive and https://sites.google.com/view/ellenville-rising/.
Ahead of that session, more details will be made public through a new website, according to New Paltz Mayor Tim Rogers. The site is being built with assistance from county officials, and will include items to discuss, feedback forms and a system to automate signing of letters of support by community members. Community members are being asked to submit “favorite, unique photos” of New Paltz to be used on the site and in the application; these can be emailed to projectmanager@villageofnewpaltz.org.
In addition to jointly applying for that $10 million prize, projects in each village will be submitted separately for consideration under the NY Forward program, geared toward smaller communities. Two projects in the Mid-Hudson economic regions will each be funded with $4.5 million.
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