The Town of DeWitt was awarded $124,000 in funding through the New York State Department of State (DOS) Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP) in 2015. The Town was considered eligible for this program due to the presence of the Old Erie Canal State Historic Park, remnants of the canal corridor (e.g. along Towpath Road), and the Orville feeder canal which is served by Jamesville Reservoir via Butternut Creek (the reservoir and feeder canal were constructed in order to assist with the maintenance of water levels in the middle division of the historic canal system during dry seasons). The funding award enables the Town to develop a Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan that will identify priority projects for the revitalization of Erie Canal related infrastructure within the Town, assist with the development of the Town’s recreational trail system, and provide a sound basis for future land use decisions that are supportive of the development of this corridor.

As part of the LWRP effort the Town has developed a partnership with the City of Syracuse to launch Elevating Erie an ideas competition to identify innovative ideas that will help to stimulate and guide the future development of the historical Canalway corridor connecting DeWitt to the City of Syracuse.