An undeveloped vacant lot in downtown Newport, seen in March 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger More than $8 million in federal grants is headed to Vermont, including funding to help redevelop Newport’s long-vacant downtown “pit” and advance other infrastructure, transportation and workforce projects across parts of the state.  “These investments help improve the day-to-day lives of the people living in our communities and highlight the exciting opportunities in our regional forest economy,” said Chris Saunders, federal co-chair of the commission, in an announcement Friday.  Several of Vermont’s largest awards are concentrated in Newport. The city is receiving $3 million to replace undersized downtown water and sewer lines and make streetscape improvements intended to support housing and commercial growth.  “It’s a pretty big deal for us,” Newport Mayor Rick Ufford-Chase told VTDigger. “It’s not just the money. It’s a sign of investment and belief that Newport is turning a new page, and so we are extremely excited about what the money represents.”  Separately, the Northeastern Vermont Development Association is receiving $500,000 toward acquisition of the long-vacant downtown Newport property known as “the pit.” The site was cleared more than a decade ago for a proposed redevelopment project that collapsed after regulators accused developers of misusing money raised through the EB-5 visa program for immigrant investors. The grant is intended to help move the property toward redevelopment.  Ufford-Chase said Newport received the entire $3 million it requested, which will also go toward the revitalization of city sewer and water lines, along with preparation for development on Main Street.  “This investment in Newport is critical and long overdue,” Loralee Tester, executive director of the Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce, wrote to VTDigger. “Today’s awards represent something more than infrastructure funding. They represent belief in the future of a remarkable town.”  She added that while Newport has sustained assets like a working waterfront on Lake Memphremagog, an international border, rail access and “people who have refused to give up on their downtown,” there are still necessities for which the city needed grant funding.  “What it has lacked is the patient, foundational public investment that unlocks private capital, housing, and business growth,” she wrote. “These projects deliver exactly that.” However, Ufford-Chase explained that additional funds are still needed to fully complete the pit in Newport and that no details regarding the grant have been worked out yet.  “I believe that this is something like laying the cornerstone on a building that you aren’t entirely sure how you will complete, which is to say the community is committed to the redevelopment of our downtown,” Ufford-Chase said.  In total, Vermont received $7.6 million through the Catalyst Program, $695,062 through the Forest Economy Program and $110,000 through the Timber for Transit Program, according to data released from the NBRC. The funds also went to projects outside of Newport, including the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College and Vermont Agency of Transportation, stretching across at least five counties: Caledonia, Essex, Franklin, Orleans and Windham.  The money is part of a $45.4 million round of funding administered by the Northern Border Regional Commission in its member states of Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and New York. The 56 awards will be separated between the Commission’s three programs: $32.3 million for the Catalyst program, $2.1 million for the Forest Economy program and $11 million for the Timber for Transit program. Read the story on VTDigger here: More than $8 million in grants heading to Vermont, including funding for Newport projects. ...read more read less