NORWICH — The Local Planning Committee (LPC) met on Tuesday, April 12 to discuss project proposals for the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) grant awarded to the city in December.

In addition to the projects included in their original application for DRI funding, the LPC also held an open call for proposals, which allowed community members and business owners to submit project ideas and funding requests for their own ideas.

According to Samantha Aldrich, an Assistant Project Manager with Bergmann, an architecture and engineering firm that is acting as the lead consultant for Norwich's DRI process, the LPC has 15 projects that were included in the original application and they received 18 proposals through the open call. The 33 total projects add up to $25.3 million in funding requests, meaning the list now has to be pared down to fit into the $10 million range.

"Right now there are 33 total projects at about $25.3 million in DRI funding requests," said Aldrich."The actual amount is likely higher than this $25.3 million too, because some of the applications that we received through the open call did not have cost estimates associated with them."

Aldrich walked LPC members through a presentation outlining the details of each project, allowing the group to discuss, provide feedback, and determine if each proposal was truly transformative for downtown Norwich. Eventually, the LPC will decide which projects to include in the Strategic Investment Plan, which will be submitted to the state for final approval in June.

"I realize that there may be some projects on here that the LPC would really like some more information for, and we can definitely provide that," Aldrich explained. "But [we] just wanted to get everyone’s initial reactions to these projects, and see if there were some that definitely make sense or some that just definitely need to come off, and ones that our team shouldn't be kind of developing further with project sponsors."

Although the LPC was unable to cover all the proposed projects in the meeting's two-hour runtime, members did discuss public improvement projects; enhancements to municipal buildings; street, parking lot, and park improvements; rehabilitation projects; marketing and branding projects; and a revolving loan fund or grant program.

One project proposal that drew some criticism was Broad Street enhancements. The project would be sponsored by the City of Norwich, and the request was for $3 million in DRI funding. Improvements would include integrated sidewalks, and the installation of benches, planters, pedestrian lighting, and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations along Broad Street, spanning from Rexford Street to Conkey Avenue.

While he felt bringing EV chargers to the city would be beneficial, LPC member John Antonowicz pointed out that some of the proposed amenities weren't transformative enough, and wouldn't help much to draw people to the area.

"To me, this whole downtown revitalization is supposed to give new things to the city and just really develop things that would not normally be done. To me, things like benches and garbage cans are general maintenance," said Antonowicz. "It just seems like they’ve been neglected and people are jumping on the bandwagon because there’s an opportunity."

"Having four garbage cans instead of three is not going to bring anybody new to Norwich," he continued. "I’m not going to other towns because they have so many garbage cans and so many benches. And I know it’s going to be a hard thing to say, because we need those things. But I just feel that doing general maintenance is not what this is for, and I feel like some of these projects are definitely general maintenance."

Fortunately, the LPC has the power to modify project proposals to change the scope of work, adjust how much DRI funding to award to a project, or request more information from the project sponsor.

The City of Norwich in particular is the sponsor of several proposed projects. Their other funding requests included $600,000 for American Avenue enhancements, which would convert the street into a pedestrian area; $1.2 million for Main Street enhancements; $3 million to improve downtown public parking lots; $950,000 to revamp Park Plaza, which is owned by Frontier and adjacent to East Park, to allow easier access and setup for food trucks; $50,000 for downtown security cameras; $400,000 for historic rehabilitation of City Hall, the Norwich Fire Department, and the Norwich Police Department; $1 million for a "rail with trail" line to connect downtown Norwich and the Museum District; and $100,000 to restore Gateman's Tower outside of City Hall.

The city is also a partial sponsor for enhancements to several downtown parks, including East Park, West Park, and the Guernsey Memorial Library park. Sponsors include the City of Norwich, Friends of the Park, and Chenango County, for a funding request of $735,250.

"[The project is] really just creating an opportunity to enhance the performance spaces and public gathering spaces in the central area of Norwich," said Aldrich. "So it includes a pavilion, an outdoor movie viewing area, stage improvements, and additional electrical and water hookups to help facilitate food trucks and performances, space, things like that. It also includes the installation of EV charging stations."

The LPC was very supportive of the project, as the downtown parks act as a frequent gathering place and setting for many beloved city events. LPC member Robert Jeffrey called the project "a no brainer."

Other project proposals discussed at Tuesday's meeting included the conversion of 14-16 South Broad Street into a 45-unit boutique hotel. Sponsored by private developers and with a total funding request of $3.2 million, the hotel project would include rehabilitation of the building, and improvements to the parking lot behind it.

Site improvements on the Norwich Family YMCA were proposed as well for $650,625, as was signage and wayfinding in the city for $200,000. Lastly, downtown public art was discussed, and the $100,000 request may be added into the small project grant fund, which would allocate $400,000 for building improvements and $200,000 for public art.

"When it comes to branding, wayfinding, public art, anything that is more visual, I think it's important to keep in mind the impact of folks wanting to be seen next to or near something. That would have a more transformative effect," said LPC member Adrienne Zornow. "Think about all the iconic public art structures in New York or Chicago: there's things that people come just to see those sculptures or structures."

"So I think it definitely has the potential to be transformative, but we need to keep that in the back of our minds," she continued. "Is this something that someone is going to come to take a picture in front of, or when they see it, 'oh, that's Norwich'?"

Full recordings of all past LPC meetings and public workshops, as well as information on the DRI process and proposed projects can be found at NorwichDRI.com.

The next LPC meeting to finish discussions about project proposals is scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m. on Monday, April 25, via Zoom.

Also on the Norwich DRI website is a public survey, which will be used by the LPC to gather community opinions on the DRI process and proposed projects.

"This is a 13-question survey that we posted on the NorwichDRI.com website. And this can be taken by residents, businesses, business owners, employees. Anyone really who has an interest in Norwich’s downtown can provide their feedback through this survey," Aldrich explained. "We will compile all that information and see if it changes any of those vision goals and strategies that we discussed at the last meeting as well."