Public Hearing | CDBG Planning Grant Application

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the Village Board of the Village of Philmont will hold a public hearing on Monday, July 17th, 2023, at 7:00 pm at
the Philmont Village Hall, 124 Main St., Philmont, New York, to consider the following:

Philmont’s intent to apply for a NY State CDBG program grant. All persons interested are invited to attend.

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Come to an important public hearing this coming Monday, July 17, at 7pm at the Village Hall to learn about and share your thoughts about the Village’s proposal to apply for a $50,000 grant from the 2023 NYS Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG) to conduct a Housing Needs Assessment and Policy Framework. This public hearing is part of the granting process.

We want you there and need your input.

About CDBG

Among other things, the CDBG program provides funding for villages, like ours, with populations under 50,000 for community planning. (The program also provides grants to cities, towns and counties that meet other criteria, and they fund housing and public facility work as well.)

Why Philmont Wants This Grant

Philmont is applying for this grant for several reasons, predominantly because it’s felt that conducting a Housing Needs Assessment and Policy Framework is the responsible thing to do at this time in order to plan for the Village’s future and to ensure healthy and sufficient housing for all our residents—our firefighters, farmers, teachers, nurses, entrepreneurs, small business owners, restaurateurs, etc., as well as the people in Philmont who work at these establishments, our children, and their grandparents. In other words, Philmont wants to promote ways to develop that do not displace the people currently living here. 

There’s a lot of planning going on in Philmont. Many of you have seen the Santa Claus box outside the Philmont Post Office, for instance. While we’re delighted to be receiving one or two wish lists for Christmas ;-), the real purpose of the summer Santa Claus box is to collect your “Future Philmont Community Survey,” a survey conducted by Philmont’s Comprehensive Plan Committee. This is YOUR wish list for our village’s future. If you have thoughts about Philmont or you’d like to share your vision for Philmont’s future, it’s very important that you fill out this survey so your voice can be heard and your ideas considered! You can access the community survey online from this village website page. We will also be printing and circulating more surveys in the coming weeks. 

Planning is also going on at the Philmont Library and through the BOA program. As an outcome of conducting the Comprehensive Plan and BOA activities, Philmont will be revisiting  and revising its zoning laws in time. One of the things that we need to do in order to create zoning laws that truly serve our village—the missing piece—is a housing needs assessment

. This will provide us with an accurate, comprehensive picture of what housing resources exist in the village and at what prices—for home ownership and renting—so that we can better plan for the future and preserve and develop our housing in an informed manner. This is believed to be the necessary first step for securing our housing stock, applying for future housing-related grants, and setting smart (not random) housing policies and zoning laws. 

We hope that you will join us on Monday, July 7 at 7pm at the Village Hall. We will try to be efficient and not to take up too much of your time. Please attend. We look forward to seeing you there.