$567k Grant Opens Door for 'Creative Financing Ideas' Downtown

Riverhead Town recently heard that it will be the beneficiary of over $1 million in grant funding, a large sum considering the town was awarded roughly $600,000 in the previous year, according to the town.

Last Wednesday, the town was awarded $567,000 through a Brownfields Opportunities Area grant to conduct an in-depth assessment and evaluation of existing conditions in and surrounding downtown.

The following day, the sewer department got word from the Environmental Facilities Corporation that it would receive $470,000 for a proposed windmill.

Christine Kempner, the town's Community Development Agency director, is hoping the BOA funding could lead to "creative financing ideas" to promote growth on Main Street, as Riverhead was granted the second-highest total among 21 recipients from the total sum of $6.2 million. Brownfields, according to the Department of State, are, "dormant properties where contamination has impeded redevelopment, making them an economic and environmental drain on localities."

The funding is not for capital improvements, and Kempner is hoping to leverage the money to work with other organizations to lure small businesses downtown, which sits in the middle of the Brownfields Area recognized by the state - from Kroemer Avenue/Route 25, all the way down to Hubbard Avenue/East Main Street.

Jerry Steiner, owner of downtown's , called the grants "not fair to the rest of us picking up the freight on these guys."

But Kempner pointed out that "basically anything going on downtown right now" is being partially funded with grant money to start up. , , , , the , , and others are all - or are planning to be - grant recipients. 

"They have been tremendously helpful," said Dee Muma, owner of the Dark Horse, referring to grants she received to partially fund Dark Horse.

Muma is now working on renovating a neighboring space on Peconic Avenue into several uses - including an artists' living space, conference/catering floor, and a public walk-through featuring local art. In conjunction with the East End Arts Council,  to help fund the space.

"And what people have to realize is that these are not cutting into taxes, they're increasing the tax base," she said, adding that roughly five percent of her overall construction costs were funded through grants. "We are spreading the tax burden by redeveloping. Whatever incentives are offered in the short term will fix the town in the long."

"We get a lot pf phone calls form people looking to get something going in Riverhead," said Kempner, whose CDA department lost one person when seven full-timers were laid off at the beginning of 2011. "But they need a lot more technical assistance than we can help them with now."

Kempner mentioned a desire to work with the National Development Council, an organization which says it is the, "oldest non-profit community development organization in the U.S." In recent years, the NDC has worked with such communities as New Cassel, Hempstead, and Glen Cove, in Nassau County.

Specifically, she said NDC could conduct independent demographic analyses to show investors. In addition, the organization has a small business lending program of its own which could be made available to small businesses.

Eric Alexander, executive director of Vision Long Island, an organization which promotes smart growth communities in downtown areas such as Riverhead's, said the town would be well off to "marry a land use process with the BOA process."

Pointing to Wyandanch and Farmingdale as two up-and-coming communities which have received BOA funds, he said, "Wyandanch is very far along compared to where they were. They were able to use the BOA funds to improve their community and move the front of the line on other grants."