Attendees at the first ever "Norwitch" Fall Festival held in October of 2021. LPC members discussed the proposed $735,250 project to enhance the parks of downtown Norwich. These improvements would include pavilions, electric and water hookups, electric vehicle chargers, outdoor movie viewing areas, and speaker systems. (Photo by Sarah Genter)

NORWICH — The Local Planning Committee (LPC) met on Tuesday, April 12 to discuss project proposals for the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) grant awarded to the city in December.

In addition to the projects included in their original application for DRI funding, the LPC also held an open call for proposals, which allowed community members and business owners to submit project ideas and funding requests for their own ideas.

According to Samantha Aldrich, an Assistant Project Manager with Bergmann, an architecture and engineering firm that is acting as the lead consultant for Norwich's DRI process, the LPC has 15 projects that were included in the original application and they received 18 proposals through the open call. The 33 total projects add up to $25.3 million in funding requests, meaning the list now has to be pared down to fit into the $10 million range.

"Right now there are 33 total projects at about $25.3 million in DRI funding requests," said Aldrich."The actual amount is likely higher than this $25.3 million too, because some of the applications that we received through the open call did not have cost estimates associated with them."