County gives $1.25M in grants for downtowns

Westchester County has awarded grants of $250,000 each to five municipalities to help them jump start revitalization of their downtowns. The county’s Office of Economic Development established the Downtown Improvement Grand Pilot Program, known as DIG, to help municipalities continue making the shift out of Covid and into a downtown revitalization and growth mode.

The five communities chosen as inaugural DIG grantees are Bedford, Dobbs Ferry, Mount Kisco, Pelham and Port Chester. Under the program, they’ll be working with the consulting firm JGSC Group whose expertise includes community and economic analysis, downtown revitalization, and redevelopment planning.

“We view this as an opportunity, a test or pilot if you will, to take a concept and see how well it works,” County Executive George Latimer said during a gathering at the County Office Building in White Plains of county officials and officials from Bedford, Mount Kisco and Dobbs Ferry. “We think it can work; we think it can expand but we want to see if we can get the desired results. The unique public-private approach and forward-thinking support that each of these communities will receive is what makes the DIG Program so unique and important as we continue our next phase of long-term economic development strategy.”

According to the county, each community will receive comprehensive market analysis, a strategic economic growth plan, six-months of hands-on technical support and assistance, and up to $250,000 in support for implementation efforts.

Westchester County Director of Operations and Chairperson of the County of Westchester Industrial Development Agency Joan McDonald said the program was the result of brainstorming sessions designed to figure out what the county can do to help the downtowns and Chambers of Commerce working in partnership with their municipal governments. She credited Shari Rosen Ascher, the county’s director of policy and programs for small business as being instrumental in making the pilot program reality. Eligible communities included those that do not receive direct Community Development Block Grant funds and have not received a New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative in the past.

Among the issues the grant recipients said they hoped to address through the program were reducing real estate vacancy rates, increasing foot traffic, attracting new businesses, retention of current businesses, enhancing the community experience, addressing parking issues and investing in visual appeal.

Ascher said, “We”™ve started a critical process that will help spark vibrancy at the local level, attract outside resources, support small businesses, inspire entrepreneurs and provide a sense of long-term direction that will benefit these communities for years to come and help them remain resilient into the future.”

According to Gina D. Picinich, Mount Kisco’s mayor, “Mount Kisco has always been a center for commerce in Northern Westchester. Overall changes in the retail environment and increasing costs have made it particularly difficult for businesses to continue to thrive. These challenges impact everyone in our community.”

As for the future of the program, Latimer said, “We think it can work, we think it can expand, but we want to see if we can get the desired results, which is to help our local downtowns in Westchester County become stronger and more active and if it does succeed it succeeds to benefit the villages and towns and the cities and the county as well.”