NORWICH — The Local Planning Committee (LPC) and the Norwich community have not lost momentum with plans for the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) grant awarded to the City of Norwich in December. On Wednesday, February 16, the LPC held the first public workshop along with architecture and engineering firm Bergmann, who is acting as the lead consultant for the DRI process.

"We have worked on six previous DRIs and are very familiar with the overarching DRI process. Our job really is to facilitate this on your behalf, so we will work very closely with the LPC, we will take guidance from the local planning committee, we will work with various project applicants and sponsors to develop projects, and ultimately to pull together the final deliverable that gets submitted to the state," explained Bergmann Vice President of Northeast Buildings Group Kimberly Baptiste.

Bergmann and the LPC will also be working with New York State Department of State Project Manager Julie Sweet, Homes and Community Renewal, Empire State Development, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and the governor's office.

The first step in the DRI process is developing project ideas to add into the strategic investment plan, which details all planned projects to be funded with the DRI grant, that will be submitted to the state later this year for approval.

To get the ball rolling, more than 50 LPC members, Bergmann associates, and members of the community gathered on Zoom to learn more about the DRI process and share their thoughts and ideas for projects.

"A really important part of this process is hearing from community members like yourself," said Baptiste. "So you're going to help us understand what is the future vision for Norwich so we can help align projects and identify projects that will ultimately help to achieve that vision."

After a presentation on the DRI, its boundaries and scope, and each step of the process, community members participated in a "visioning session," led by Bergmann Assistant Project Manager Samantha Aldrich, using menti.com. Attendees were asked a question about the City of Norwich or the DRI project and answers were displayed on-screen, with the size of the text reflecting how many people chose that word.

For example, when attendees were asked what word they would use to describe Norwich, Aldrich read the answers aloud: "Some of the words which I see maybe multiple people have answered is 'quaint' to describe downtown Norwich. We also have family oriented, walkable, charming, industry, and potential, which I would say definitely are all accurate descriptions of Norwich."

Participants were also given the opportunity to speak more fully about their answers. One notable example was local attorney Adam Spence describing Norwich as "gritty."

"I wrote gritty just because those of us who grew up here and were here in the 70s and 80s have seen Norwich get sort of kicked in the teeth over the years, and yet there’s just no quit in it," he explained. "It’s a place that I think has grit. I mean it in a good way."

Conversation also focused on what the community hoped the DRI would do for the city, and projects they thought would be a good idea to include in the strategic investment plan. Commerce Chenango President and CEO Kerri Green explained one of her visions for downtown Norwich when asked how she'd like to be able to describe the DRI area in five years.

"I put diverse. That has a lot of meanings," she said. "From my point of view as representative of the businesses of the community, just diverse in terms of retail, like restaurants, places to shop. You know, really grasping some of the unique opportunities that we have here, and how to use those unique experiences to then add to our downtown accessibility in terms of diverse businesses, and then places to go and things to do."

To answer the same question, LPC member John Antonowicz answered "useful," and explained how he hopes to see the DRI projects hold up over time, as well as encourage people to stay in the city.

"I put useful, which is meant to be positive in a way that I hope the projects that come out of this last more than five years following the DRI, that in five years we don’t go, 'well we put paint on that and it looked great then, but now we’re in the same situation.' That projects happening really have an impact on the community economically, to make people want to stay here," Antonowicz explained.

"You know, a lot of my generation has moved away. What would make them want to come back here? Because they’re moving to cities that have a little more going on," he continued. "So what are the things that, in five years, maybe they move back and the people that are younger than me don’t move away?"

More specific project ideas were also floated. Norwich business owner Adam Bosworth asked about the possibility of improving downtown walkways, such as the easement between South Broad Street and the parking lot behind Nina's, American Avenue, and the parking lot along the side of the Colonia Theater.

"Can we make a map and create a group to just kind of focus on those little alleyways and whatnot? American Ave would be another one that could use some major improvements," said Bosworth. "I think that would create the biggest impact of all of the things that have been discussed."

Improving these areas could fall under a proposed project in the DRI application that earned Norwich the $10 million grant. While those projects have not been approved yet, they have already been explored as an option by the committee.

"That is something that we’ve been talking about, and Mayor Doliver and I have had conversations, because obviously if that project does move forward we’re going to need to do some things with that area, and I know we’ve already talked about getting together with the Norwich Superintendent and looking at all of the access points to Broad Street — the walkways, the parking lots, making them safe, well lit," said Green. "There’s a lot of great things we could do to really make those areas welcoming."

More meetings are planned to continue discussing DRI projects, including another public workshop in April, as well as public LPC meetings each month. An open call for project proposals is also under way, and an informational session to discuss the project proposal process and application is expected next week.

All information on the DRI projects and meetings can be found at NorwichDRI.com. Comments, questions, and feedback can also be made on the site.

"You can always hop on to our project website, which is www.NorwichDRI.com, and there is a comment feature right on the website you can leave comments at as well," said Baptiste. "Our team will get all of these and respond as necessary."