On Thursday, August 1st, the Preservation League of New York State announced our award of a $9,500 grant to hire Adirondack Architectural Heritage, AARCH, to help us apply to create Au Sable Forks as a Historic District.  The Sun Community News did an article on this topic and can be viewed at: https://suncommunitynews.com/news/111613/town-of-jay-awarded-grant-for-ausable-forks-historical-survey/.  This is something we have been working towards for quite some time.  In 2022, AARCH came and gave a presentation to the Town of Jay Town Board to get us to think about applying for this designation.  It was agreed upon at that time to attempt to apply for this grant opportunity that year.  Unfortunately, we were not awarded in that round of funding.  As we have been working on our New York Main Street work, the idea was revisited to apply again.  This concept was actually included in the 2005 Au Sable Forks Downtown Revitalization Plan which is available on our website along with the 2024 technical assistance reports.

On Friday, I attended the AuSable Acres Homeowners Association’s First Friday gathering.  This was an opportunity for me to address some of the issues that concern the residents of the Acres.  Association President Ian Ellbogen led the discussion with questions that were direct concerns of its members.  The topics included assessed land values and short term rentals (STRs).  I feel there was a healthy discussion about these topics.  An additional issue that was raised was animals spreading trash out of trash cans that are being left at the end of driveways indefinitely.  I would like to request all residents to please remember to put your cans undercover, in sheds, or at least close to your house to keep the critters from spreading that garbage around your property and into the road.  Thank you for your help with this issue.

Lastly, the Town of Jay Town Board meeting is this Thursday at 7:00 pm.  We do have 2 public hearings before that meeting.  At 6:00 pm, we will be holding a public hearing to apply for a Vacant Property Grant to remove a blighted house through the help of the Essex County Land Bank.  At 6:30 pm, we will be holding the second public hearing to discuss applying for the CDBG Microenterprise grant for small businesses in the town.  All meetings will be live streamed as usual.

Hope you have a great week,

Matt.