The New York State Canal Corporation has announced twelve upstate municipalities, including Brockport, will receive a total of $1 million in grants from the Canal Corporation as part of the $2.25 billion in awards that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Councils (REDC) are providing to spur economic growth throughout New York State.
The Village of Brockport will receive $75,000 for phase one of the Brockport Rowing and Canal Development Project, which will be located on a Canal Corp parcel of land just north of the canal and the Park Avenue Bridge at the intersection of Fayette Street and Lyman Street. “I am thrilled,” Brockport Mayor Margay Blackman tells the Suburban News. “We’ve been trying to do this for a couple of years.” The grant will help cover the cost of developing the infrastructure needed to support recreational and competitive rowing programs in Brockport along the western section of the Erie Canal.
The village will work with the NYS Canal Corporation to develop the project, which will allow the Village to continue its development of canal-related activities and attractions integral to economic development goals related to canal tourism, officials say. “I think this has great potential to bring to the area not only a recreational activity that appeals to a wide age group, but also an increased use of the canal, and the tourism and traffic to our downtown that will follow in its wake,” Mayor Blackman says.
Matching funds are coming from donations – a rowing shell, oars and cash from a private donor; BISCO; funds raised from the Big Tent Craft Beer Event at Low Bridge High Water; and in-kind labor from the village’s Department of Public Works, the Mayor explains. “The project is a two-year one which also gives us time to organize Brockport Rowing, a community-based club which will carry the effort forward and grow the sport,” she adds.
According to the grant application, the development of the parcel will include: clearing of underbrush and removal of some trees; possible infill; construction of an earthen ramp leading up to Fayette St.; a cement pad for the boat shed; installation of a shed to house rowing shells, and chain link fencing around the shed as well as boat and oar racks.
The Village will also attach a permanent floating dock appropriate for rowing to the north bank of the canal, a few hundred feet east of the Park Avenue Bridge. The grant application noted that many areas east of Rochester have rowing programs including Pittsford, Fairport and Brighton, but currently there are no rowing facilities along the stretch of the canal from Buffalo to Rochester.
Additionally, officials at the College at Brockport have expressed interest in and a commitment to establishing a rowing program at the college.
