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Albion's Downtown Grant Bid Shrank From 11 Buildings to One Between Restore NY Rounds

2026-08-22 · 5940 words

Key Actions & Decisions

◆ • Feb. 28, 2024: Jay Grasso of G&G Grant Administration told the Board Restore NY funding was opening and updated trustees on the village's pending grant applications
◆ • April 25, 2024: Grasso again advised the Board that Restore NY was open; trustees carried a vote scheduling a May 8 public hearing on a financial-assistance application to Empire State Development under the Restore NY Communities Initiative
◆ • May 8, 2024: Board scheduled a further public hearing for May 15 on Round 8 of the Restore NY Communities' initiative municipal grant program, and separately approved using $500.00 of contingency funds to pay the ReStore NY application fee
◆ • May 15, 2024: Board opened and closed a five-minute public hearing on the Round 8 application, then adopted Resolution 2024-19 sponsoring an application to Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) covering 11 downtown properties, including 132 N. Main Street (5,984 square feet, vacant mixed use); the resolution carried 3-0 with Mayor Javier and Trustee Bennett absent
◆ • Dec. 11, 2024: Board opened and closed a one-minute public hearing on Round 9 of the same program, this time for a single property — 132 N. Main Street — and adopted Resolution 2024-29 sponsoring that narrower ESDC application; carried 3-0 with the mayor and Trustee Riley absent
◆ • Dec. 19, 2024: Board authorized Planning Board Chairman Karen Conn to sign a letter of support for the Restore NY grant application
◆ • July 30, 2025: Board accepted a $12,000.00 proposal from G&G Municipal consulting to administer a village Comprehensive Plan, split $6,000.00 in the 2025-2026 budget year and $6,000.00 in 2026-2027
◆ • Jan. 28, 2026: Board took up a resolution reciting the village's earlier participation in the New York Main Street Property Maintenance Program, under which building owners near Main Street received financial assistance from the New York Housing Trust Fund Corporation and agreed to a five-year period of required upkeep and restrictions on selling, moving, demolishing or materially altering the funded properties without village consent

Village trustees spent 2024 chasing Restore NY Communities Initiative funding for downtown Main Street and Bank Street buildings, first backing an 11-property application in Round 8, then narrowing the ask to a single vacant building, 132 N. Main Street, for Round 9 — with the minutes never explaining the retreat or recording an award. A separate resolution taken up in January 2026 shows the village has already carried an earlier round of downtown revitalization money, with five-year strings attached to the buildings that received it.