The Town of Indian Lake has announced a multi-day public workshop to plan for the future of “The Commons,” formerly known as the Townsend property.

The public is invited to join the Town’s Advisory Committee at St. Mary’s Church, on November 14th, 15th, and 16th to help identify reuse opportunities for The Commons, a 7.7-acre downtown lot.

The Advisory Committee will be hosting open house sessions that are open to the public and participants will be encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas regarding how best to repurpose the site.

The open house session will be held from 1 to 7 pm, on Thursday the 14th, from 9 am to 4 pm on Friday the 15th, and from 8 to 11 am on the 16th. These sessions are expected to be informal and allow participants to look at maps, review previous planning documents, and meet with members of the Advisory Committee and the professional planners and designers that are assisting with the process.

Beginning on Thursday November 14th the Town’s Advisory Committee will be working with the Chazen Companies and Envision Architects in an effort to engage residents and stakeholders in a collaborative design process. Over the course of three days the project team hopes to create a series of redevelopment concepts based on community feedback, previous planning efforts, and existing site conditions.

Through a series of meeting, site visits, and public engagement, a series of visuals is expected to be prepared and used to guide redevelopment efforts including site layout, preliminary cost estimates, market potential, construction requirements, and implementation strategy to achieve the desired end uses.

This project emerged out of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, which has helped leverage grant funding for the acquisition for the property, preliminary development projects, and the planning process that is currently underway. The Town purchased the 7.7-acre property with funds from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. The current planning process is being funded by the New York State Department of State with funds provided under Title 11 of the Environmental Protection Fund, which the Town was awarded through the NYS Consolidated Funding Application Process.

St. Mary’s Church is located at 6335 NY-30, Indian Lake. For more information call Sally Stanton (518) 648-5179 or Paul W. Cummings, AICP, LEED AP, at (518) 824-1930 or at pcummings@chazencompanies.com