DANC offers loans for predevelopment costs

Municipalities in Northern New York can now seek help for predevelopment costs necessary for grant applications.

The board of the Development Authority of the North Country, meeting Tuesday, approved the details of a new loan program, which will cover up to $25,000 of "soft costs" involved in projects.

The Community Technical Assistance Program will provide no-interest loans for predevelopment costs of feasibility studies, engineering, planning and other analysis.

"This will place municipalities, particularly smaller ones who may not be able to finance their own soft costs, so they will be able to apply for state grants and stimulus funding," DANC Chief Executive Officer James W. Wright said.

Local development corporations and certain nonprofit agencies involved in property redevelopment also will be eligible to apply for the grants. DANC's project development committee will review applications, looking for regionally significant projects that likely would be funded.

While the necessity of "shovel-ready" projects was accentuated by the requirements for programs under federal stimulus funding, Mr. Wright said municipalities are regularly evaluated on their preparation for a project.

"It's not an uncommon occurrence," he said. "We want to prepare municipalities for ongoing programs."

Also at Tuesday's meeting, the board heard about several grants DANC is seeking.

The authority applied for about $450,000 to help create a complete loop in its Open Access Telecom Network between Syracuse and Watertown.

"It will help with the redundancy piece of the network," said David M. Wolf, general manager of the Open Access Telecommunications Network Division.

Completing the eastern side of the loop from Lowville to Syracuse will protect the entire network and allow continued service if one line is blocked.

That application is to the Upstate Regional Blueprint Fund through the Empire State Development Corp. The program is available to a wide range of projects and will cover up to 20 percent of a project. The authority should receive word by the end of August on that application.

The telecom network soon will apply for about $25 million in federal stimulus funding to reach a large portion of the underserved in the north country.

Mr. Wright said RidgeviewTel, a private wireless communications provider, stepped forward and asked for a partnership with DANC for a more successful application.

The grant would help extend the network to about 30,000 homes or 80 percent of the population in the region that now does not have wireless Internet service, according to RidgeviewTel projections. About 90 percent of those homes are in St. Lawrence and Lewis counties.

"Here in the region, it would provide for some competition and telecommunications opportunities," Mr. Wright said.

The stimulus package includes $7.2 billion set aside for broadband and telecommunications development for mainly rural areas via loans and grants. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service and Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration are overseeing the program and will begin accepting applications July 14, according to USDA's Web site.

In other business, the DANC board:

■ Accepted a clean external audit from Bonadio & Co. for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

■ Awarded a $175,000 contract for engineering and design work with C&S Companies, Syracuse, for the improvements to the Warneck Pump Station on Route 37 in the town of Pamelia.

■ Approved a 20-year agreement with the city of Watertown for the treatment of leachate from the solid waste management facility in Rodman at the city's sewage treatment plant.

■ Agreed to a $58,590 contract with Ducks Unlimited for engineering and design work for a 24-acre wetlands mitigation project as part of the regional landfill's expansion.

■ Ratified water and wastewater operations and maintenance agreements, including a five-year agreement with the town of DeKalb totaling $114,591, a five-year agreement with the village of Heuvelton totaling $237,376 and a two-year agreement with the village of Sackets Harbor totaling $99,000.