VOORHEESVILLE — Village officials and the committee known as All Aboard: Voorheesville Main Street Master Plan Project hope many local residents and business owners will turn out for a public workshop on Tuesday, March 31, at the firehouse to hear the committee’s recommendations on ways to revitalize the Main Street business district. 

At the public workshop, the engineering firm that has been working on the project since late in 2014, Barton and Loguidice, will present its suggestions for beginning to revitalize the so-called Main Street “triangle” that runs along Grove Street to Main Street and Voorheesville Avenue, committee head and village Trustee Brett Hotaling said.

The committee and the village board members hope to get insight, questions, comments, and suggestions from the public that will help them shape these initial plans and recommendations into a more final form.

“No one knows Main Street better than those who live and work there,” reads a flyer distributed by the village, requesting public participation in the workshop. The flyer promises that “public input and discussion will play a key role in the planning process.”

Once suggestions have been received and incorporated, Hotaling said, the village will set about trying to get grant money to begin to “actually get these things done,” with the hope that this will have a positive impact on economic development and streetscape amenities on the Main Street area — and by extension on the wider Voorheesville community — for years to come.

“There has never been a Main Street Master Plan before,” said Hotaling, who has been reporting back to the village board on the committee’s findings.

The committee includes residents and a couple of business owners from Main Street — the owners of the hair salon and the laundry — as well as a representative of the Voorheesville Community and School Foundation.

Mayor Robert Conway told The Enterprise in December that the village received a grant of $8,500 in November from the Hudson River Valley Greenway to help identify design opportunities and zoning code improvements.

Conway said at the time, “This dovetails with the Rail Trail. We hope to tie the two together, using the Rail Trail as a driver to bring business into the Main Street area.”      

It is these funds that the committee put toward employing the engineering firm to draw up some ideas, Hotaling said recently.

Barton and Loguidice will make a presentation at the March 31 meeting, and residents can interact and discuss specific details and steps directly with members of the All Aboard committee and with consultant representatives throughout the evening.

Engineer Richard Straut of Barton and Loguidice told The Enterprise that some of the recommendations would be for improvements to buildings and for better signage that will direct people toward the business center.

The plan also calls for improving access on foot or bike by finding grants that would help the village to take charge of opening the portion of the Rail Trail that leads into the triangle. Albany County, which owns the trail, is supporting the village in its efforts to find grants for that development. Straut mentioned that the not-for-profit Voorheesville Community and School Foundation has been helping the village to look for sources of grant money.    

One idea that Straut mentioned would be to build a new parking area along Main Street, on the other side of the tracks from the businesses. Another would be to build a pavilion, near that proposed parking area, that would include some visual themes related to the old train station.

“The Rail Trail, as we like to say in Voorheesville,” Straut said, “starts in Voorheesville. We want to get people, when they do come to Voorheesville, to take a little time to explore.”

The flyer mentions that at the public workshop, base mapping of Voorheesville and the Main Street target area will be generated in multiple forms and will be provided for viewing. What this means, Straut explained, is that the different elements being proposed—improved signage, storefronts, etcetera—will be shown on separate maps that are overlain onto maps of the area as it is now, “to keep things from getting cluttered.”

Those attending the workshop, Straut said, do not need any technical expertise.

Hotaling said that the committee has also discussed resolving some lighting issues, to make the area more attractive to visitors.

“Our hope,” Hotaling said, “is that people who come to the Main Street area will stay to look around and maybe get a bite to eat.”

Currently, Hotaling said, the eateries include Jaycee’s Pizza Depot; the bakery and cooking school Gio Culinary Studio; and the Voorheesville Diner, just across Voorheesville Avenue. There is also a Stewart’s.

“We want to beautify the existing buildings,” Hotaling concluded, “and along with that we’re hoping for some not just restaurants but new business opportunities, whatever they may be.”

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The village of Voorheesville invites the public to attend a workshop and respond to the preliminary plans for the All Aboard: Voorheesville Main Street Master Plan Project. The workshop will be held at the Voorheesville firehouse at 12 Altamont Road on March 31, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.