By Paul Post<\/p>\n
Plans call for a survey of residents, business owners, developers and lenders as a next step in long-range efforts to revitalize the City of Glens Falls\u2019 East End.<\/p>\n
The area encompasses roughly four square miles from Ridge Street east to the Queensbury town line and from Dix Avenue south to the Hudson River.<\/p>\n
An East End Rising steering committee is seeking inclusion in the state\u2019s Brownfield Opportunity Area program, which would open the door to a variety of funding and technical assistance.<\/p>\n
The panel held its second meeting March 5 at Abraham Wing Elementary School with about three dozen residents on hand.<\/p>\n
The survey seeks to obtain input from a cross section of stakeholders about ways the East End could be improved.<\/p>\n
Committee members also plan to make a walking tour of sites considered prime for economic development. Several parcels have more than 3 acres each, and more than 6,000 cars per day travel both Dix Avenue and Warren Street.<\/p>\n
The East End has an eclectic mix of single-family, multifamily, small retail and old industrial buildings spread across deep-rooted ethnic neighborhoods comprised largely of descendants of Irish and Italian immigrants.<\/p>\n
The East End also has the greatest concentration of arts venues in the city, from the renowned Hyde Museum to Troy Shirt Factory, which is home to dozens of arts studios and craft vendors.<\/p>\n
The Hyde\u2019s Chief Executive Officer John Lefner said Glens Falls may have the \u201cstrongest small-city arts and culture sector in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/b>The East End could become even more \u201cart centric,\u201d a place for artists to have home-based businesses, by rezoning some neighborhoods to attract such entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n But 60% of East End residents are renters, well above average, and some residents said already high rental fees would rise further if the area becomes a trendy arts district, making it unaffordable for lower-income people.<\/p>\n Warren County has one of the state\u2019s oldest populations, largely because there isn\u2019t enough affordable housing for young families to stay here.<\/p>\n Following the formal meeting, committee members welcomed input from the audience. Concerns centered on two main areas \u2014 pedestrian and traffic safety, and residential complaints about conflicts with business neighbors.<\/p>\n Bethanie Lawrence, executive director of the World Awareness Children\u2019s Museum, said three parked cars on Warren Street near her site have been hit by passing vehicles in recent weeks. She also cited the need for increased pedestrian safety because children sometimes walk from her site to The Hyde when weather permits.<\/p>\n Other residents voiced major concerns about noise and large truck traffic passing through neighborhoods, sometimes during early morning and evening hours.<\/p>\n A separate group, the East End Action Committee, meets at 10 a.m. the first Saturday of each month at Rock Hill Bakehouse & Caf\u00e9, 18 Curran St., for people interested in improving quality of life in this part of the city.<\/p>\n Eighty-six sites across New York state have already obtained Brownfield Opportunity Area designation, leading to significant redevelopment. In Broome County, for example, an abandoned Endicott-Johnson factory was converted into a residential complex.<\/p>\n An application seeking inclusion in the BOA program is expected to be submitted late this year or in early 2027 after the committee finishes creating a strategic plan for revitalizing the East End.<\/p>\n Historically, the program focused on brownfield sites but has evolved over time to also look at opportunities for investment and revitalization of underutilized sites. Through this program, underutilized sites are transformed from liabilities into community assets.<\/p>\n The intent of the BOA program is to undertake neighborhood-scale plans rather than focus on a single underutilized property. While not all properties in the BOA study area are brownfields, vacant, underutilized or abandoned, looking at the neighborhood scale acknowledges that the presence of these nearby sites may impact investment in the larger community.<\/p>\n The East End Rising committee\u2019s next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 5.<\/p>\n For information, go to www.eastendrising.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Paul Post Plans call for a survey of residents, business owners, developers and lenders as a next step in long-range efforts to revitalize the City of Glens Falls\u2019 East End. The area encompasses roughly four square miles from Ridge Street east to the Queensbury town line and from Dix Avenue south to the Hudson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-news"],"yoast_head":"\r\n