NORWICH – The downtown Norwich parks improvement project, begun several years ago, is finally off the ground and running with the Chenango County Board of Supervisors’ approval this month to be the lead agent for the New York state-mandated environmental quality review process.

Clerk of the Board RC Woodford said the review would most likely be completed in July and, barring any environmental obstacles, a resolution would follow shortly thereafter.

Fundraising is in full swing, said the project’s manager Eric Larsen, with calls being made to public and private funding sources as well as grant applications written and mailed. Larsen, and a small group of community volunteers who call themselves the Friends of the Parks, will meet again next week to strategize, he said.