By Kate Hill

Staff Writer

For the third year in a row, the village of Cazenovia will apply for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) — a grant program that will invest $100 million into 10 downtown neighborhoods across the state.

The application is being prepared with assistance from the Cazenovia Area Community Development Association (CACDA).

During the May 6 Village of Cazenovia Board of Trustees meeting, CACDA President Jocelyn Gavitt and Executive Director Lauren Lines discussed and sought public input on the 2019 Cazenovia DRI proposal.

DRI participation is awarded to one municipality in each of the 10 Regional Economic Development Councils (REDCs). All interested communities will submit their applications to the REDC for their region by May 31. The Councils will review the applications and evaluate each downtown’s potential for transformation. After hearing presentations from representatives of the most promising applicants, the REDCs will nominate one downtown in each region.

Each participating community is awarded $10 million to develop a DRI strategic investment plan and to implement projects that catalyze economic development; attract and retain residents, visitors and businesses; and help the downtown to reach its full potential.

A Local Planning Committee (LPC) — including local leaders, stakeholders and key government officials — will lead the DRI in each community. The LPC’s work is supported by experts from the NYS Department of State and NYS Homes and Community Renewal, and by a team of state-hired consultants. All parties will collaborate on the development and execution of a public outreach strategy designed to inform and engage the community in the plan development process.

Cazenovia’s application will be submitted to the Central New York REDC. The village will compete with communities in Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego Counties. The current DRI awardees in CNY are the City of Oswego, the City of Cortland and the City of Auburn.

“It’s a long shot; we know that,” Gavitt said. “We’re a small community . . . but we’ve been taken fairly seriously for the last two years and [been] encouraged to reapply.”

Apart for its small size, one notable challenge facing the municipality is the misconception that Cazenovia is a universally affluent area with little need for assistance.

Gavitt refuted the idea, explaining that while there are indeed pockets of wealth in Cazenovia, there are also many people in the area in great need of services. Cazenovia serves as a hub for a large rural area, Gavitt explained. The hope is that it will be recognized as a model for community development in Central New York’s rural areas.

“The first year we applied, we were mocked because we had the audacity as a small town to apply,” Gavitt said. “But we noticed that the second year they asked us to interview and there were three other small towns [that] had followed suit. We like to think we are setting a precedent and maybe changing their minds [about what the DRI is and could be].”

Cazenovia’s DRI proposal was drafted based on previous community surveys and continued conversations with downtown business, property owners and stakeholders.
The proposal focuses on impactful projects related to the development of the downtown center, healthcare, tourism, higher education, agricultural industries, business and manufacturing, housing and the community.

“The state is looking specifically for transformative and interrelated projects,” Lines said.

In addition to big-picture focus areas, the CACDA presentation highlighted a few specific ideas, including lakefront enhancement projects, a farm to market regional co-op, mixed-use development in the downtown center, senior and affordable housing units, and a regional community center.

Although Cazenovia’s selection for the DRI is unlikely, according to Gavitt, the application preparation itself gives the village a boost in terms of securing other REDC grants.

After introducing Cazenovia’s tentative proposal, the CACDA representatives passed out notecards and asked the board and the community members in attendance to answer three questions related to their vision for the downtown revitalization.

Mayor Kurt Wheeler pointed out that the REDCs are eager to see evidence that a community already has or could secure private and public investment in their downtown.

Gavitt explained that the application would highlight the projects that already have investors and are ready to move forward in the near future. She specifically pointed to a senior housing project on Burton Street led by Housing Visions, a not-for-profit developer.

Following the CACDA presentation, the board passed a resolution authorizing the village to apply for the 2019 DRI funding.

Village authorizes Cazenovia “Monday Mile”

Later in the meeting, Mary Kate Lee — Program Coordinator for the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion at The Maxwell School at Syracuse University — presented a proposal for the establishment of a “Monday Mile” walking route in the village of Cazenovia.

The one-mile loop would begin and end at Lakeland Park and take approximately 20 minutes to walk. The path would be mapped out with seven to eight directional signs, which, according to Lee, are minimalistic in design, extremely durable and can be affixed to existing signposts. Lee assured the board that the signs would be funded by the Lerner Center.

According to Lee, the goals of the Monday Mile program are to encourage physical activity in a safe and accessible space; to support organizations who use the program; and to provide sustainable access to a walking route that can be used at any time and free of charge.

The program is part of the Healthy Monday campaign — a national public health initiative to stop the spread of chronic, preventable disease by offering weekly tips and programs to help people and organizations to start and sustain healthy behaviors.

The campaign started in 2005 in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Healthy Monday is based on research conducted by Johns Hopkins that suggests that people view Monday as a day for a fresh start and are more likely to start healthy behaviors on Monday than any other day. Additionally, people who start those behaviors on a Monday are more likely to keep up the habit throughout the week.

The Monday Mile program was launched in 2012 in Onondaga County at Syracuse University. According to Lee, the county now has 19 routes.

Madison County followed suit in 2016 as a result of a partnership between the Lerner Center and the Madison County Rural Health Council. Together, the organizations formed the Live Well Committee to implement Monday Miles in areas with increased childhood obesity.

According to Lee, obesity rates are higher in Madison County than in New York State as a whole. In the county, 28 percent of adults and 20 percent of K-12 public school students are obese. Additionally, 30 percent of adults in Madison County are not active.

“Our goal is to create more accessible and more visible recreation areas for people to come and get moving together and therefore to increase physical activity rates throughout the county,” said Lee.

The proposed route goes from the park southeast on Albany Street, left onto Sullivan Street, right onto Nickerson, right onto Lincklaen Street, right onto Albany Street and straight back to the park.

Following discussion, the board voted to approve the addition of a Monday Mile in the village. The exact route and location of the signs will be subject to approval by the mayor and Bill Carr, public works administrator.

Lee estimated that the Monday Mile could be implemented by July. Once it is established, she will engage individuals, groups and organizations to get people involved with the initiative.

“Part of my job is to develop programming around this to get people really excited about it,” said Lee.

Cazenovia will be the 13th Monday Mile route in Madison County. The other routes are located in Brookfield, Canastota, Chittenango, Morrisville, Oneida, New Woodstock, two in Stockbridge, two in DeRuyter and two in Hamilton.

To learn more about Monday Mile program, visit lernercenter.syr.edu. For more information on CACDA, email [email protected].