Northport Village board plans for $2.5M bond for Main Street Revitalization project

At the June 6 Northport Village Board of Trustees meeting, the board passed a resolution to create a capital project titled “Main Street Revitalization” with an appropriation of $2.5 million to be funded with issuance bonds and Bond Anticipation Notes (BANs). The Village board is now preparing to authorize a bond resolution and move forward with several improvements planned for Main Street, running from Woodbine Avenue to Church Street.

The project has been discussed by the Main Street Committee for over a year, and is now coming to the board to secure funding, materials and engineering plans. Members of the committee include Mayor Donna Koch, Northport Village Trustee Dave Weber, Assistant to the Mayor Don Tesoriero, Northport Chamber of Commerce President Janet Hoeft, local business owner and longtime resident Ron Iannacone, Village resident and certified arborist Kevin Kavanaugh, and Henry Tobin, former chair of the Village’s Architectural and Historical Review Board.

The Main Street Revitalization was the topic of conversation at the Monday, June 26 board workshop. According to Mayor Donna Koch, the project will include new meters, new light fixtures and electrical work, and new sidewalks and concrete curbs. The Village is also hoping to secure grant money for new trees, and plans to add custom iron tree grates.

The meters will be electronic, allowing people to pay with their credit cards, cell phone app or coins, with a maximum of two-hour parking. The hourly rate for parking will double from 50 cents to one dollar per hour.

While the preliminary project estimate is $1.7M, the Village is looking to bond $2.5M, which allows for contingency costs and the cost of issuance. According to municipal bond attorney Bob Smith from Hawkins, Delafield and Wood, who provided information at the workshop, the funding will likely have to be divided into several five- or ten-year bonds, and must be adopted by a supermajority vote, requiring four out of five Village board members to approve it. Each individual project will require a line item that indicates the estimated cost for each bond.

Noah Natelson from Munistat, a municipal financial advisory service, was also present at the workshop and will be working with the Village throughout this process. He explained that the Village may use a BAN, or short-term bond with interest, to fund immediate projects, especially those being covered by a grant, which requires the Village to cover the costs of a project before being reimbursed. BANs can roll over every year, for five years.

Based on the workshop discussion this week, the Village is hoping to authorize the bond resolution at the July 6 meeting and wait for the required 30-day permissive referendum period when residents can object to the bond. Mayor Koch hopes to replace the meters first to begin receiving the increase in revenue, and then tackle the light fixture replacements. The sidewalk replacement will likely be the last portion of the project to be completed.

The next step, after the bonds are authorized, is to obtain engineering plans and purchase the necessary materials. Assistant to the Mayor Don Tesoriero said, at the very end of the workshop, that there are several other engineering plans for grant-related projects that are a priority, including one for the Main Street stormwater infrastructure initiative that expires in 2026 and another grant for stormwater that expires in 2025. “This is work that needs to take place on Main Street that is not engineered yet…we need to exhaust those funds and get that work done in that period of time,” Tesorieo said.

He also noted the Comprehensive (or Master) Plan is also moving forward, which can have a direct impact on how the Village administers Main Street at a number of levels, including the sidewalks.

The Main Street Revitalization project needs to be engineered, Tesorieo said, and may be put second, after these existing grant projects. The Village can also explore hiring additional engineering firms to divide up these projects, but this is an issue that should be addressed by the board because they would all need to coordinate, which could be “challenging,” he said.

“So it doesn’t make sense to BAN or bond right now for the money,” Village Treasurer Siobhan Costello said, to which Tesorieo replied it may be the “proper assessment” while these projects and the related engineering services are sorted out. The Village can, however, continue with the authorization of the bond and wait until wintertime or after to start borrowing, which would then start the clock on the bond. “We can start slowly,” Mayor Koch said.