State Funds Village Plan: Katz Says $58,000

Assures Comp Plan Update, Strategy Completion

By JIM KEVLIN • The Freeman’s Journal

Edition of Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014

COOPERSTOWN

A $58,000 CFA grant announced Thursday, Dec. 11, assures the Village of Cooperstown can update its comprehensive master plan and craft a strategy for a prosperous future, Mayor Jeff Katz said in an interview.

“We’re going to come out of this not only with a master plan, but with useful financial statistics and marketing information we can use to bring in appropriate business,” he said.

The $58,000, in addition to the $30,000 contributed so far, mostly by the county IDA, is a “huge bargain,” Katz said. Without the grant and IDA help, such processes can cost “hundreds of thousands” of dollars, he said.

The IDA had sought this grant on the village’s behalf, and it was one of a relatively few positive outcomes in this round of CFA grants.

CFAs – Comprehensive Funding Applications – are the first step in determination which projects will receive the Cuomo Administration’s economic-development funding. On the 11th, $709 million in grants were distributed statewide.
Sandy Mathes, the IDA’s CEO, was disappointed that grants sought for a commerce park in Richfield Springs and an ag hub in Oneonta did not come through, although a marketing survey for the former D&H Rail Yards in Oneonta was approved.

A village application for $200,000 to renovate 22 Main, the Village Hall, also failed to win approval this round.