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North Country communities awarded money for brownfields

Roy Saplin
/
Creative Commons, some rights reserved
Looking across Lyons Falls to the old Gould Paper Mill in Lyons Falls, NY.

Three North Country communities were awarded grant money from New York state yesterday to address contaminated sites called brownfields.

The village of Lyons Falls in Lewis County received over half a million dollars to figure out a plan for 4 sites – including the old abandoned paper mill in the center of town.

Katie Liendecker is mayor of Lyons Falls. She says the mill is in pretty bad shape.

"Looking over at the paper mill you can see how some of the buildings have just collapsed. And thank goodness from our main street we’re not looking at that."

Liendecker says some of the grant money will go towards a marketing plan to attract businesses to the mill once it’s restored.

"What we’re hoping this time is we can a combination of industries – maybe apartments, different stores, so that not one industry on that site. Not putting all of your eggs in one basket!"

The town of Fort Edward was awarded $254,000 towards an industrial park on the Champlain Canal.

Glens Falls received $124,000 to complete a revitalization plan for brownfields and vacant sites downtown.

Sarah is a correspondent for North Country Public Radio, based in Canton, N.Y.