Cayuga County villages joining forces to apply for $10M downtown grant:
https://auburnpub.com/news/local/gov...9530b4d89c1102
"A trio of Cayuga County villages could become the second group of New York municipalities to share a $10 million prize in the state's Downtown Revitalization Initiative.
Steve Lynch, director of the county's Department of Planning and Economic Development, said Wednesday that the villages of Aurora, Cayuga and Union Springs will submit a joint application for the seventh round of the initiative.
The Downtown Revitalization Initiative is a state program that began in 2016. Most years, the state has awarded $100 million for investments in downtown areas, with one winner selected from each of the state's 10 economic development regions.
The city of Auburn is a past recipient of a $10 million grant, having won the Downtown Revitalization Initiative in 2018. Last year, the village of Homer in Cortland County won the $10 million prize.
Lynch told the Cayuga County Legislature's Planning and Economic Development Committee that his staff has been busy working on the villages' joint application.
"We're doing all kinds of events and outreach, mostly trying to engage the business community so that we can have economic development projects which look really good for those grant applications," Lynch said.
Although most DRI winners are solo recipients, there has been one successful joint application. In 2022, the village of Clinton and town of Kirkland shared a $10 million prize. But the village is located within the town.
There is some distance between the three Cayuga County villages seeking the grant, with Aurora and Cayuga separated by 12 miles. Union Springs is halfway between the other two villages.
As the county Department of Planning and Economic Development assists the villages with the joint DRI application, it is also seeking funding for each village in the NY Forward program.
NY Forward is a similar program with a focus on smaller, rural communities. The village of Moravia in Cayuga County won a $2.25 million NY Forward grant earlier this year. Aurora, Cayuga and Union Springs submitted applications in the first round of the initiative, but were not selected.
The awards available through NY Forward are smaller than the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. The regions can choose whether to award two $4.5 million grants or one $4.5 million prize and two $2.25 million grants.
For the DRI and NY Forward programs, the deadline for applications is Sept. 29. Winners will be announced later this year. "
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