It was standing room only at Ellenville’s village hall for the first meeting of the Local Plan Committee (LPC), held on Monday, August 31.

The LPC is the body that will review proposed projects to be submitted for the New York State Forward Grant, worth, eventually, $4.5 million to the village.

The meeting began with introductions of the committee, which includes familiar faces in the village: Pastor Gary Fuller, Debbie Briggs, Wawarsing Planning Board Member John Lewis, Kristen Osterhoudt, Connor Eckert, Village Trustee Victoria Messner, Wawarsing Town Supervisor Joe Stoeckeler, Ellenville Mayor Evan Trent, Elliott Auerbach, Cheryl LaSonde, and Barbara Hoff.

Shepherding things along were state representatives, led by Susan Landfried, a Smart Growth Policy Director in the office of Planning, Development and Community Infrastructure.

A demographic study of the village illustrates the promise and difficulty in the village. “The Village of Ellenville is getting younger, and its population and housing stock is growing,” but “the Village of Ellenville is experiencing an increase in poverty while median household income has gone down.”

The grant is meant to make a more active, vibrant downtown. This meeting was largely setting the expectations and meeting the personnel who will be involved in the planning.

“The New York Forward program has these seven goals,” Landfried said. “We think about creating action downtown, we think about attracting new businesses, enhancing public spaces, cultivating a variety of housing opportunities, growing local tax revenues, providing a variety of amenities that enhance living, and helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support climate resilient investments.”

What’s next for this committee? On September 22, their first workshop will be held at 6 p.m. at village hall. It will be open to the public, and discussion will go over what NY Forward actually is, and the Open Call for Projects will be introduced.

On September 23, they’re holding an event called “Coffee with Consultants,” where the public and potential project sponsors can join the project team to learn more about the program and the open call for projects. 9-11 a.m., and 12-1:30 p.m., location to be announced.

On September 29, they’ll be holding a webinar in which projects can be discussed with the team. The next week, October 5, Landfried will be holding office hours at village hall, in two two-hour sessions, going over projects. The same day, the LRC will hold their second meeting at village hall. More information as these events approach.

Afterwards, Mayor Trent said: “Our First LPC meeting was informative and constructive, we appreciate our state partners’ guiding hand throughout this effort. I’m really pleased with the public turn out and hope that anyone who could not attend in person or watch live, checks out our YouTube channel [at https://www.youtube.com/@VillageofEllenville].”

Proposals for projects will be accepted up to October 30.