Cobleskill expects to hear Friday just how far it’s climbed up the Economic Development Administration’s grant wish-list ladder.
Cobleskill has applied for a $2.574 million EDA grant to help extend water and sewer lines down the Route 7 corridor to Howe Caverns.
The project is seen as a way to fuel development there and is also a piece of Howe Caverns’ $200 million expansion plans.
Cobleskill Supervisor Tom Murray said he expects to hear Friday whether they’ve gotten the money.
“This is the magic grant,” he said. “Without it…we can’t continue the water and sewer expansion. I’ll be at Board of Supervisors…Hopefully, they’ll call there.”
In March, supervisors committed $2 million in county money to the water and sewer line expansion—part of a $7.8 million package that also includes: $2 million from Howe Caverns, $1 million from the Office of Community Renewal, and $225,000 from the Town of Cobleskill.
The EDA grant is highly competitive.
Mr. Murray said Cobleskill’s application started out 28th on the list.
Now?
“The last we heard, we’re second. Or, hopefully first,” Mr. Murray said.
Even as Mr. Murray’s keeping his fingers crossed, Andre Nadeau, chairman of the town’s Planning Board, asked Monday what will happen if the money doesn’t come through.
“We’ve needed water and sewer there for years and years,” he said. “If we don’t get the money, do we just drop it?”
Mr. Nadeau said even if it takes something like a special assessment district, extending the lines is crucial to Cobleskill’s growth.
Mr. Murray agreed, but said there’s long been resistance to that idea.
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” he said of the EDA grant. “Without it…We’re hoping the presentation I made pays off.”
Howe Caverns’ expansion is expected to create 300 jobs, generate more than $750,000 a year in property taxes, up to $1 million more in county taxes, and $147,000 in bed taxes.
Some have questioned the haste with which supervisors pledged their $2 million to the deal while others said it’s a risk likely to pay off.