PLATTSBURGH — Mayoral candidate Dan Lennon had hoped it wasn’t too late for the City of Plattsburgh to submit an application to Empire State Development’s Restore NY grant program this year.
On Saturday, two days after councilors unanimously voted down a resolution that would have allowed Mayor Chris Rosenquest to sign and submit an application for a $2.5 million state grant to redevelop a vacant downtown property at 2 Brinkerhoff St., Lennon asked the Common Council to hold an emergency meeting and reconsider Restore NY grant applications before the deadline Wednesday.
“Plattsburgh can ill afford to miss out on this year’s two point five-million-dollar opportunity and (if) we have to stay up late for the next few nights, that’s what should be done for the people and for downtown,” Lennon, a Democrat, said in a statement.
“A rushed application is better than no application. RestoreNY is an annual grant program so if Plattsburgh misses the 2024 deadline it is totally out of 2024 funding.”
Lennon, an attorney, even offered his legal help pro bono, if required.
“Now is the time for leadership and vision and, most importantly, for teamwork between downtown businesses, common council members and city staff because a 100% effort from everyone will make this happen.”
However, the Restore NY program has a strict process for applying.
Letters of intent to apply for a grant were due in March and the city only submitted two by the deadline: one for the project at 2 Brinkerhoff St. in which White Rainbow LLC looked to convert the building there into a boutique hotel and restaurant; and the second for the remediation and restoration of the historic property located at 206 US Oval.
Because the project at 206 can be categorized under a special program designation within the Restore NY program, the city opted to work with the developer to reformulate that application and submit the project for future funding instead.
This meant councilors were tasked with voting on only the Brinkerhoff project at their last meeting, which was just days before the state’s May 22 deadline to submit an official grant application.
So after councilors voted down the measure 6-0, there was no time left for any other project to be considered for funding this year.
“Given the program’s clear guidelines on letters of intent, public hearings, and council approval for applications,” Rosenquest said Tuesday about Lennon’s request, “there’s no mechanism to provide alternative projects for this round of funding before the program’s deadline to apply.”
“As previously outlined, a number of projects were considered. The projects were recommended after careful review with our grant writing agency and the Community Development Office for their viability and economic impact. These projects best matched the goals of the program and their recommendation is a decision which I fully support and continue to support.”
The mayor also addressed Lennon’s assertion that Rosenquest submitted the grant application to council for consideration.
“Although items for Council consideration are placed on the agenda by my office at the request of Department Heads, and at times at the request of Council,” Rosenquest said, “an application for RestoreNY was never ‘submitted by Mayor Chris Rosenquest.’”
COUNCIL CONCERNS
As previously reported by the Press-Republican, councilors had hesitations about the Brinkerhoff project because the person pursuing the grant for that building is the landlord of Rosenquest’s business at 30 City Hall Place, Chapter One: Coffee & Tea.
Additionally, Councilor Elizabeth Gibbs (D-Ward 3) said during their last meeting that the council was never given an opportunity to provide input or collaboration on what potential projects may be selected for the Restore NY grant application prior to the intent to apply March deadline.
She said the council went through a similar situation during Restore NY’s last round of grant funding in 2022.
Gibbs said the city sent out a letter of intent to apply for a grant that would have covered the costs of the Crete Memorial Civic Center’s demolition in November of 2022 — before the vote to demolish the building took place that December.
An official application to the program was then due in January of 2023.
The council approved the application before the deadline but were never granted the near $350,000 they hoped to receive from the state. Gibbs said she foiled the intent to apply documents then, knew to request it this time around and was granted it.
Rosenquest did not agree the council was not involved in the latest grant process.
“On April 29th, weeks before the Council’s vote, the Council was provided a comprehensive memo outlining the details of the program and thought process behind the targeted RestoreNY projects and their letters of intent. Despite Councilor Gibbs’ claims she had to demand this via a FOIL request, this information was provided freely,” he said.
“After sharing this information, outside of a couple of one-off questions which were immediately answered, no other information was requested and no further follow-up or suggestions were made.”
He continued to say that “Neither this office nor the Community Development Office received feedback, suggestions, or concerns leading up to the unanimous disapproval of the intent to apply for this program using these two projects.”
“To say the Council had zero say or understanding or ability to make changes or suggestions leading up to the vote is again patently false and intentionally misleading.”