Potsdam trustees vote down spending $40K on facility improvement study; will get new vote next week

Andy Gardner, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
·2 min read

Jul. 19—POTSDAM — A resolution to spend $40,000 toward an engineering study for major upgrades to Pine Street Arena failed to pass at Monday's village board meeting. However, it will likely get another chance at an upcoming special meeting.

A short-handed village board ended up voting for the motion 2-1, with Trustee Abby D. Lee casting a no vote. It needed at least three yes votes to pass. Trustees Alexandra Jacobs-Wilke and Monique Tirion had excused absences from the meeting, according to the mayor.

Mayor Reinhold J. "Ron" Tischler said the resolution will be added to the agenda for a special Board of Trustees meeting scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Monday, July 25.

Village Planning Director Frederick J. Hanss said the village is seeking $200,000 in state grant funding to pay the majority of the approximate $260,000 study cost.

In addition to the village's cash contribution, they'll also put in $26,780 "in donated professional services and equipment," the resolution said.

The project is in the conceptual phase, village officials said. They want to take Pine Street Arena and turn it into a "new facility that's going to meet the community's needs, including a community center," Village Planning Director Frederick J. Hanss said. He added that officials would want a completed project to add a heated community room with a kitchenette with a view of the ice. The resolution also calls for installation of accessibility improvements at Sandstoner Park Beach, and adding tourist information kiosks on the Raquette River Blueway Trail. Following the meeting, Village Administrator Gregory O. Thompson said they're not ready to get into specific details of the proposals.

Mr. Hanss said the village had previously applied for grant money to do the study but were denied. He said the state used a points-based system, and the village barely fell short. He said a big thing they need this time will be more letters of support.

"If we can get those letters and show there's broad-based community support for the project, we stand a much better chance of getting the grant," he said.

Mr. Hanss added that they'll need to address storm-water runoff from the arena, which "carries a lot of salt, carries grit, carries automotive fluids" that can contaminate the nearby Raquette River.

"What are you doing to enhance the physical environment and the health of the Raquette River, that's a scoring criteria," he said.

The planning director added that other recent improvement projects in the village also had to address that, including at Canton-Potsdam Hospital and the Clarkson Inn. They ended up building underground chambers that trap contaminants, rather than letting them into the runoff that ends up in the river.