There is a lot of activity going on in more rural areas in Oswego County.
Building on the momentum of the state’s successful Downtown Revitalization Initiative, the $100 million NY Forward program adopts the same “Plan-then-Act” strategy as the DRI to support a more equitable downtown recovery for New York’s smaller and rural communities.
In November, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the village of Phoenix will receive $4.5 million in funding as the Central New York region winner of the first round of NY Forward.
Awards are made to smaller communities in each of the state’s 10 economic development regions to support development and implementation of a revitalization plan for their downtowns.
After a seven-month public process that ended in November, the local planning commission submitted 15 projects to the NYS Department of State for a total of $6.5 million in grant requests, of which $4.5 million will be awarded, Wheelock said.
Projects submitted were from both the private and public sector ranging from mixed-use downtown redevelopment and waterfront development to expanding much needed services like healthcare, childcare, fire protection and sewer infrastructure.
The village of Phoenix put out its list of projects and they are awaiting word from the state about which projects will receive funding.
“You’ll see a lot of growth down in the village of Phoenix,” Wheelock said. “There is a lot going on all over Oswego County. With the state funding programs that have been put together to help some of our rural communities, we are going to see communities like Pulaski, Mexico, Hastings and Parish all sort of putting together plans and hopefully revitalize their downtowns.”
Due to the unique public waterfront assets in Phoenix, the redevelopment of North Island into a tourism destination with an entertainment pavilion, boat docks, dog park and recreation trails was one of the main projects submitted, he added.
With the new mayors in Oswego and Fulton, the ball is going to get rolling again related to many projects — especially in the Fulton DRI, Wheelock said.
“It’s going to be good for the city of Fulton. Many of those projects will get off the ground or even completed in 2024,” he added. “Oswego’s mayor is looking to keep up momentum started by the previous administration. ConnextCare going into the old Oswego education building will help bring more activity to downtown.”
