Mayor: Grant Money Will Help Greenport During Planning Phases

Along with Southold Town, Satur Farms and the East End tourism industry, Greenport Village was another winner of grant funding from the New York State Regional Economic Development Council last month.

The village will receive $288,000 to transform ends of roadways to prevent polluted runoff and another $186,000 to fund studies, as the village has several projects in the planning phase: $92,600 regarding replacing a deteriorating bulkhead at Mitchell Park Marina, $48,000 for sewage expansion projects, and $45,000 for an economic development study analyzing the benefits of the Greenport Tall Ships Festival and similar events.

Though some Patch readers questioned the expense of the studies, Greenport Mayor David Nyce said that the money is needed as planning phases — which include feasibility studies — of any municipal project are expensive.

“Getting everything properly prepared before the work happens is the second-most expensive part of any project — permit, engineering costs,” the mayor said. “We’re a hardship community and these grants are for those who can’t necessarily fund these things on their own.”

Nyce said that the village is always looking for help to upgrade and expand Greenport’s sewage system, as sections of town east and west of the system are not yet connected.

“Expansion would be a great thing for Greenport environmentally and economically,” he said.

Jason Conwall, senior press officer for Empire State Development, agreed that environmentally related studies are an important and proper use of state funds.

“These studies look into the cleanliness and quality of public water supplies, including the state of sewage infrastructure to ensure there is no threat to the health and safety of those living in the community,” he said.

These grant funds will also allow the village to stay away from borrowing in order to pay for studies themselves moving forward, Nyce said.

“Tying back into the bigger fiscal picture, the village is pretty stable right now, funds are holding their own,” he said. “We were lucky enough to get all the grants we applied for, but we do have a very good history with the state, starting a long time ago — we are one of the earliest local waterfront revitalization programs in the state.”

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