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Planning Assistance
Lyons Falls Planning Grant 2009
The Village of Lyons Falls is a small rural community located in southern Lewis County. The village has limited tax base and relies exclusively on property levies for operating funding for municipal government. The village budget is simply insufficient to permit expenses for developing planning activities without outside aid. The Village of Lyons Falls will undertake this planning effort in order to help determine the future direction of the village. The village government, consisting of the Mayor, Trustees, and the Clerk will implement this grant with the assistance of Snow Belt Housing Company, Inc., community members, and staff from the Tug Hill Commission.
In April of 1992, the Lyons Falls Village Board, with the assistance of the Tug Hill Commission, began a comprehensive strategic planning process. The goal of this process was to develop a list of strategies and activities that would improve the quality of life of village residents. Twelve initiatives were listed as possible activities to pursue to accomplish the village’s goals. After working on these activities for a number of years, a strategic planning grant application was submitted to the OFSC in 2005 to develop this list of initiatives into a strategic plan. Development of a plan would enable the community to take advantage of partnerships and funding opportunities more quickly and efficiently as well as help the village to effectively apply the village’s limited resources to projects that will best benefit the community as a whole. Unfortunately, the application was not successful but the village is continuing to work on the following list of initiatives:
1. Initiative downtown beautification
2. Improve river access
3. Complete sewer system for the entire Village
4. Make improvements to the Village park
5. Plan and develop riverfront park at the site of the historic barge canal
6. Repair and replace sidewalks
7. Revitalize housing
8. Develop plan for business revitalization
9. Participate in Black River promotional events
10. Participate in the development of a recreational trail from Lyons Falls to the Village of Lowville
11. Improve water quality and serve as a model for other communities to do the same
12. Maximize sources of outside financial aid to the Village
Over the last fifteen years, a number of those initiatives have been completed. The completion of a $3.6 million village-wide sewer system is part of a regional effort to clean up the Black River from Lyons Falls to Lake Ontario, ending the direct discharge of sewage into the river. The village has also received funding to undertake improvements to the Village Park and is currently working on a redevelopment plan for the Turning Basin/Black River Canal Park in the center of the village.
With the closing of Lyons Falls Pulp & Paper, the village’s largest employer, in 2001, the village has been in a severe state of decline. In December of 2007 the village’s only grocery store closed, further exacerbating an already desperate economic situation. The village is now transitioning from an industrial community to a community defining itself by its access to recreational opportunities, its history, and its overall quality of life.
To begin this transitioning process, a group of concerned citizens, with the support of the Village Board, compiled and distributed a questionnaire to village residents in the summer of 2007. The enthusiasm expressed by village residents reinvigorated the group known as Lyons Falls ALIVE that had been inactive since the 1980s. Lyons Falls ALIVE was reborn and began implementing their vision of making Lyons Falls a better place to live.
The Village of Lyons Falls needs a lot of things. This was determined in the “Lyons Falls Community Action Plan”. So far they have identified the following needs:
Deteriorated Infrastructure
Sidewalks
One bridge
Parks
Lack of natural gas on some streets
Truck traffic to/from landfill on downtown streets
Road conditions in Lyonsdale neighborhood
Deteriorated Buildings
Downtown commercial buildings
Vacant downtown lots
Single family homes in need of rehabilitation
Empty school
Lack of Jobs
Paper mills closed and Lewis County Development Corporation hopes to redevelop the site
Lack of good-paying jobs
Eco-tourism via the trails and waterways needs to be boosted
Community Services
Senior housing
Community Center
Lack of public transportation
Lack of community college
This recently-completed Lyons Falls Community Action Plan identified items that would improve the village’s appearance and develop its potential for drawing more tourist activity into the village. The focus of this community planning grant application is to address the issues of housing, downtown revitalization, and to pursue the development of a community center.
The following activities will be undertaken with this planning grant: a village-wide income survey, a Main Street revitalization plan, the development of a Community Center, and the development of a comprehensive Housing Plan. These activities will start in June, 2009, and will continue through the drafting, revision, and finalization stages until June, 2010.
The village has already held multiple scoping meetings and solicited public participation while developing the “Lyons Falls Community Action Plan”. This participation was instrumental in determining the needs of the village. This public participatory process will continue throughout the development of the housing and downtown revitalization plans.
Lyons Falls ALIVE is currently working on developing a website that will help to inform citizens of activities in the community. In addition, the Lewis County newspaper, the Journal and Republican, has a regular weekly column on Lyons Falls. This column will be used to inform the community of public meetings and to solicit public comment.
The result of most of these plans will be to seek public funding to assist with the financial obligations of implementing the plans. Prior to any grant application, there will be at least one public hearing to discuss the grant and how it fits the relevant plans.
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