DAM SITE PLANS MOVE FORWARD
Dam Association, Austin Borough agree on land lease

This old tower is among many cement structures at the site of the former Bayless Paper Mill in Austin that will be removed or restored if a plan to develop the site comes to fruition.

Austin Borough has agreed to lease a large tract of land in Keating Township from the Austin Dam Memorial Association (ADMA).

That piece, some 70-plus acres that makes up the Austin Dam Memorial Park, is being targeted for an even larger-scale recreational development down the road.

Austin Borough will pay a dollar for the 25-year lease.

Move was made to put the borough in a position to apply for a grant from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) that would help fund a master site plan to begin a major recreational development project that could potentially begin in the borough and continue nearly three miles to the northern boundary of the Dam Park.

A steering committee, made up of a handful of community members, several members of the ADMA and three Austin Borough Council members, was recently established to drive an effort to develop the 17-plus acre tract that includes the Bayless Papermill ruins and potentially the property between it and the Dam Park.

A nearly one-mile stretch of that is owned by Patterson Lumber Company. A similar lease agreement between that company and the ADMA is being pursued.

The steering committee has received an estimate for the site plan from an Altoona-based company. The estimate came in at close to $100,000.

With the estimate in hand, Austin Borough will now make application to DCNR for the grant. If funded, the grant will only cover 50 percent of the plan cost. ADMA and members of the steering committee will need to come up with the other $50,000 as matching funds.

That money can be raised in several different ways- through fund drives or potentially through other grant sources.

"Just so people in the borough understand, the lease agreement doesn't obligate us (the borough) to anything," council president Jesse Valenti said. "Our role is helping to get grant funding for the project. Of course, as individuals we all fully support the effort and will do everything we can to help. But from a borough perspective, we are just agreeing to lease the property so we can be the grant applicant."

If the DCNR grant is approved, the steering committee plans to seek other grant funding to meet the matching fund requirements. If necessary, a fund drive, that will perhaps include door-to-door solicitation of residents and businesses, will also take place.

"The bottom line is, we are going to do whatever it takes to push this project through," said steering committee member David Brooks, who is also executive director of the Potter County Visitor's Assn. "I'll go door to door myself if that's what we need to do. This has the potential to be one of the best development projects in Potter County in quite some time."

In the meantime, the group is going to go through their estimate to see if what can be trimmed. The hope is that existing plans and site studies can be worked into the estimate and save money.

They will also request quotes from other firms to be sure the original quote is "in the right ballpark," Brooks said.