Some help is on the way for the troubled Linden Avenue Extension in the form of a $200,000 grant from the state's multi-modal fund.

Senator James Seward (R-Milford) was expected to make a special appearance last night at the village open house to formally announce the grant.

"The senator is pleased to provide this funding for major safety improvements that will benefit the school, the village, the railroad, and the county highway department and make the area much safer for all concerned," the senator's spokesperson Duncan Davie commented Tuesday afternoon.

Mayor Carol Waller briefly discussed the grant with two representatives from the New York State Department of Transportation who attended last Thursday's streets committee meeting.

"It's a start," she said of the grant, adding that it will help get the ball rolling.

The village was not tied down as to how the money could be spent. It could be used for design or construction costs, the mayor told David Ligeikis, the DOT's Region 9 director of planning and program management and DOT project developer John Fitzgerald.

Ligeikis agreed the money was a good start, but that it would not go too far. "The funding will still be problematic," he said.

The Linden Avenue extension is a no-man's land of patchwork ownership that actually lies outside the village in the town of Otsego, but runs through village-owned property.

Talks between all the stakeholders fell apart and last year the village closed the street to through traffic. The move forced drivers to use Walnut Street exclusively creating congestion and delays particularly when buses are arriving and leaving the school.

The Department of Transportation became involved through a plan they developed to put a traffic light at the corner of Chestnut and Walnut Streets and by a request from Senator Seward.

The proposal for a traffic light is now on hold until the Linden Avenue situation is corrected, according to Ligeikis, who told the committee that the agency is still committed to overseeing the solution for Linden Avenue.

"What we found is that the signal at Walnut may not be the best idea," Ligeikis said.

But the road to a solution has been riddled with potholes - one of which is the inability to get all the stakeholders to the table.

"Part of the problem," Waller said, "is getting the county and town to the table. The school, the little league and the railroad have been on board."

"We'll take care of that," said Ligeikis. "Hopefully with the cooperation of all the entities we can get this done."

"It's in their best interest to involved. I think they will see the light and be active stakeholders," said Fitzgerald.

"We need to get everybody around the table and see what the issues are. Everybody's perceptions are different. We want to find out what the problems are; sort out the issues and try to determine the best solution," Ligeikis said.

He said they would wait until the grant announcement and then write a letter to all the stakeholders to set up a meeting and begin the process of finding a solution.