Lynbrook village officials apply for $10 million downtown revitalization grant

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Lynbrook Village Clerk John Giordano announced at the board of trustees meeting on June 4 that the village once again applied for a $10 million New York state downtown revitalization grant. The application was due on June 1, and the grant will go to one municipality.

“The Village of Lynbrook would use this grant to achieve many goals for [the] downtown,” Giordano said in a statement to the Herald. The projects that the grant would fund include expanding public off-street parking, establishing a central theme with signs and colors, storefront improvements and improvements to recreation facilities that surround the downtown area.

To earn the grant, each community had to “develop the key ingredients needed for successful downtown revitalization: a clear vision for the downtown; goals and strategies to accomplish the vision; and a strategic plan to implement catalytic projects identified in the plan,” according to the brochure for the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. This year, 23 Long Island communities are vying for the grant.

A development council, comprised of business executives, union leaders and educators appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, will evaluate the projects based on how well they meet state and local goals; project readiness; the effect the project would have on the revitalization of the downtown; the benefits the project would have on the economy; and its cost-effectiveness. The council has a July 13 deadline to recommend one downtown to the Department of State.

Hicksville won the grant last year, and Westbury was selected in 2016. In their application, Hicksville community members wrote that they would use the grant money to make the downtown more pedestrian friendly. Westbury is using the grant money to fund streetscape improvements and renovations to the recreation and community center and to purchase a permanent space for Westbury Art & Culture, according to the Village of Westbury’s website.

“We have seen first-hand the excitement and transformative nature of these investments — turning downtowns into economic engines for their communities and beyond,” Cuomo said in a statement. “This new round of funding will provide these downtowns new opportunities to rebuild for 21st century needs and foster growth that will be felt across the entire region.”