Chautauqua County Land Bank Executive Director Gina Paradis said land banks were created by New York State in 2012 as a way to deal with vacant and abandoned properties following the 2008 mortgage crisis, “And they saw the success that other states were having with land banks, primarily in Michigan and Ohio. And so they worked with some people to really understand land banking and how those tools could work and decided to put together the legislation to create the authority for land banks to be created in taxing jurisdictions throughout the state.”

Over the last decade, land banks in the state have

– Acquired over 5,000 problem properties
– Demolished 1,567 vacant structures
– Returned 3,231 properties to productive use
– Generated more than $300 million in private investment
– And returned $135 million in assessed value to local tax rolls

Paradis said of those figures, the Chautauqua County Land Bank has acquired 362 properties, demolished 172 structures, and returned $8.5 million to the tax rolls.

She said the pandemic hurt the land bank’s ability to acquire properties, as the county’s tax auction was on hiatus from January 2020 until July 2022, “We really went a couple of years with no inventory to sell and still plenty of demos to do. But we ended up in that real tough situation where we had little inventory to create revenue and our grand funding was twilighting and we were looking at a gap in funding for that period.”

Paradis said funding assistance by the Sheldon Foundation as well as revenues from previous years helped bridge the gap. She said mortgage crisis settlement monies initially funded land banks in the state, but that funding has been totally expended. Paradis said the proposed state budget includes a line item for Land Banks that she’s hopeful will get passed.

In November 2022, Jamestown City Council approved allocating $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the Chautauqua County Land Bank. Paradis said that contract is still in the review process.

Jamestown Director of Development Crystal Surdyk addresses City Council Housing Committee (February 13, 2023)

The City of Jamestown has started the process to update the City’s Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code.

Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said the New York State Department of State has to review and approve the city’s request for proposal to do updates for both. She anticipates that will be completed in the next 30 days.

Surdyk said when it comes to vacant properties in the city, an update of the code will help them redevelop those sites, “Because when we do a demolition and we do have a vacant property that is tucked between two houses, right now our code is prohibitive of building something new. So as we do the zoning code update, that is something we are going to take a close look at and adjust it so it makes sense, so it’s modernized. So we’re talking about, what is the future of the city and how are we allowing for those in-fill buildings?”

Surdyk added that the update of the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code is a five year process and that it will take time to see results.

Surdyk also shared with the Housing Committee that a contract with the Chautauqua County Land Bank should be signed by the end of this week. That contract will allow the Land Bank to proceed with a list of priority demolitions in the City.

Following a citizen request that the Housing Committee meetings be longer than 15 minutes, Council President Tony Dolce said trying to schedule that committee has always been frustrating.

He said committees are always welcome to meet at a different time or day if needed, “We had before a public safety committee, a few terms ago, that met during the morning because they were all retired, they were all available, and they had more time, and they were able to do that. And I realize that Marie (Carrubba) has a job and others have jobs and work. They’re more than welcome, and we can discuss, if there’s a time when they need more time a week here or once a month, rather than meeting 15 minutes and shoving everything in.”

Housing Committee Chair Marie Carrubba said her conflict comes from another board she has been a member of for the last 30 years, “I have made adjustments as I’ve been able to and I will continue to do that. But I’m always available. If people call me at home, call me at work. I get a lot of calls even outside of my ward about housing issues because they know I’m on the Housing Committee or they just think I get things done, so they call me. So I’m always open to that. I return calls.”

Public Safety Committee Chair Brent Sheldon shared that the City has hired two new police officers. He said they are currently in the Sheriff’s Academy and will do their field work with JPD next month.

When it comes to hiring the third officer approved by Council to handle quality of life issues like noise, Dolce said they can look at ideas for that, “Some things that we can look at. Things are already cranking up. I’ve already gotten nuisance complaints of noise and motorcycles and cars. Those are going to get worse as the season goes on and there are certainly some things that the administration and council can look at too to try to deal with that. I know that they’re a busy group dealing with and prioritizing what they have to go after but there may be some things we can look at.”

The two new hires now brings the total number of officers in the Police Department to 61.

Jamestown City Council voting session (November 28, 2022)

Jamestown City Council has approved using $3.75 million in American Rescue Plan funds for several programs, including funding the Chautauqua County Land Bank.

The proposals that had been on Council members’ desks for several months included funding a Non-Profit Assistance Program with $1.5 million, the Chautauqua County Land Bank with $1 million, the Business Expansion and Building Acquisition program with $750,000, and the 19A Homeownership program with $500,000.

The 19A Homeownership program was initially proposed to be funded with $750,000, but was reduced, with the intention that the other $250,000 would go toward the Senior Citizen Home Improvement Incentive program. With Council’s approval of last night’s resolutions, the Senior Citizen program is now fully funded for those who had qualified for the program, but not funded due to monies being exhausted.

Council tabled two local laws that need to now sit on their desks for 30 days. One is a local law to authorize the use of video conferencing for meetings of public bodies. Council President Tony Dolce said the law will just reinforce what the city had been doing for the past two years.

The other local law is for the reapportionment of Ward boundary lines. Both local laws will be voted on at Council’s voting session in December.

Jamestown City Council

Mayor Eddie Sundquist‘s $38.68 million Executive Budget proposal included no tax increase. The tax levy is proposed to remain at $23.69 per $1,000 of assessed property value, which it has been since 2020. It has a 0.06% increase in the overall levy.

Council members have raised concerns over a proposed parking meter rate increase. The budget has on-street meters rates rising from 25-cents to 50-cents a half hour, for a total of $1 an hour. The parking revenue budgeted for 2023 is $245,000 versus $127,000 for 2022, a 31% increase.

Police Chief Tim Jackson also raised concerns over the SWAT Team, training, and K9 handler being underfunded.

There are also have been concerns over the need for additional staff for Information Technology Services. Information Technology Director Mark Dean informed Council that his request for an IT Specialist was not funded in the Executive Budget. He said the $42,634 for the additional position is needed to handle cyber security needs and network hardware-software needs.

Finance Chair and Council member at Large Kim Ecklund had expressed concern over departments doing their own tech work when there are staff assigned to handle that already.

Council must vote on a budget by December 1 or the mayor’s proposed budget goes into effect.
Council also will vote on several American Rescue Plan funded projects that have been languishing on their agenda for months.

Resolutions to be approved include $1.5 million for a Non-Profit Assistance Program program, $1 million for the Chautauqua County Land Bank Post-Pandemic Housing Initiative, $750,000 for a Business Expansion & Building Acquisition program, and $500,000 for the 19A Homeownership Program.

The proposed amount for the 19A Homeownership program has been reduced by $250,000 with another resolution re-appropriating that amount to the very popular Senior Citizen Home Improvement Incentive Program.

Council also will vote to approve a local law on the Reapportionment of Ward Boundary lines.

City Council will hold a work session at 7:00 p.m. in the 4th Floor Police Training Room with the full voting session taking place at 7:30 p.m in the Council Chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building. The meetings are open to the public with the voting session being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

Gebbie Foundation CEO Greg Edwards addresses Jamestown City Council (November 7, 2022)

The executive directors of the Community Foundation and Gebbie Foundation made pleas to Jamestown City Council to move forward with American Rescue Plan funding.

Chautauqua Region Community Foundation Executive Director Tory Irgang, speaking to Council, reminded them how CRCF helped compile the community feedback from public information sessions held in 2021 on how to use the ARPA funds.

She said it’s easy to adopt a “scarcity mindset,” “A time when partnerships and collaborations can be mistaken as weakness. However, we have proven in this community what can happen when we have an abundance mindset. We work through public, private partnerships every day to achieve tremendous results. And I encourage each of you to lean into that shared experience by aligning the remaining ARPA funding with community-based projects that have significant leveraging opportunities.”

Irgang said projects that had been evaluated and awarded other funding from government and philanthropic sources should be considered, “Projects that provide infrastructure and programming for children and young adults, projects that yield measurable results, deliver significant community benefit, and address challenges that are multi-faceted. As we know all too well in philanthropy, our needs are always greater than our resources, but we can meet so many more needs when we collaborate and work together.”

Gebbie Foundation CEO Greg Edwards said the city has been very successful at finding partners in its mission over the last 20 years, “Over the last 20 years, many times not-for-profits have willingly stepped up and the public-private entities have stepped up because they had seen how valuable our joint mission was and invested dramatically in trying to impact the future of the city in ways we could spend a great deal of time tonight celebrating this partnership between the city and these entities.”

Edwards encouraged funding for TheZone project at the Northwest Arena. He said the Gebbie Foundation has provided nearly $4 million in funding for that project. He also encouraged Council to support the new Jamestown YMCA project on Harrison Street.

Council member Marie Carrubba asked what the plans were for the current YMCA location on East Fourth Street.

Edwards replied that the 1929 structure is complicated with the Housing and Urban Development contract for housing that remains in place for at least 13 years, “But there have been significant conversations around how that could actually be a plus to other redevelopments potentially around the city and how that building itself could be reused. I had a conversation two months ago with a private developer who was interested in turning it into what we’ll call higher end housing because it does come with some amenities that other buildings don’t. I mean, having the gyms, the pools, those sorts of things that does provide opportunities, call it built in, that make it interesting.”

Council Member at Large Jeff Russell voiced support for a new YMCA facility.

Any funding for the projects mentioned by Edwards would possibly receive funding from the proposed Non-Profit Assistance Program. A resolution to fund that program with $1.5 million in ARP funds is still awaiting Council action.

Council member Andrew Faulkner questioned how much the 19A Home Ownership program could be funded with and still be successful. Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said $500,000 would be the absolute minimum. The current proposal is requesting $750,000.

Council member at large Russell asked why the city would contract with the Chautauqua County Land Bank for $1 million, of which 20% goes to administrative fees, when the city could do home demolitions itself.

Surdyk said $500,000 of the funds requested by the Land Bank would go to contractors to do the demolition work, with administration fees going to administer that program.

She said while the DOD can administer demolitions, as it has done in the past, there are now over 16 new programs the department is now administering on top of existing programs, “To administer effectively the demolition program and these and new grant programs that we have received over the last year, it’s just not feasible without hiring new staff, specifically to do demolition. So, we can contract with the Land Bank at a roughly 20% administrative fee which would ultimately be less than what we’d have to pay to employ somebody as a city employee.”

The Finance Committee tabled the resolutions related to funding the Chautauqua County Land Bank and 19A Home Ownership Program until the November 14 work session.

And DPW Director Jeff Lehman reported that leaf pickup is ahead of schedule with Phase 2 already underway this week. He said crews do plan to go back through the city again after the completion of Phase 2 to try to pick up any piles of leaves that were missed the first time.

The two organizations will launch a Rehab Loan Fund. Executive Director Gina Paradis said that as “Sales4Rehab properties do not qualify for traditional financing, this partnership with Home HeadQuarters is a vital part of the Land Bank’s continued expansion of programs and resources designed to return vacant properties back to productive use, with a special focus on addressing housing disparities and better serving historically underserved populations within the County.”

Home HeadQuarters is a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that serves individuals and businesses that cannot access resources from traditional financial institutions by applying more flexible underwriting standards.

Under the new partnership for the Rehab Loan Fund, Home Headquarters will offer both acquisition and construction financing assistance to qualified first-time or low-income homebuyers seeking to purchase and rehabilitate properties from the Chautauqua County Land Bank.

Those who are interested first-time or low-income homebuyer can call the Chautauqua County Land Bank office at (716) 969-7843 for more information about the Rehab Loan Fund.

Jamestown City Council work session (October 3, 2022)

Jamestown City Council continued discussions on how to use American Rescue Plan funds as new programs are proposed.

Council reviewed resolutions totaling $4 million in allocations that would create a Non-Profit Assistance Program, a Business Expansion & Building Acquisition program, a 19A Homeownership Program; and give funding to the Chautauqua County Land Bank.

Finance Committee Chair and Council member at Large Kim Ecklund, expressed concern that if all proposed allocations are approved in addition to a proposal to add more funding to the Senior Citizen Home Improvement program, that will leave just over $4 million left in unexpended ARP funds.

One proposal would give $1 million to the Chautauqua County Land Bank to create a First Time Homebuyer’s Assistance Rebate Program, to support the expansion of the Hands On Neighborhoods Program, and to assist in the Land Bank’s purchase of an information management platform.

Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said the Land Bank also will use funding to help with demolitions in the city. She said the city is limited by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to $150,000 for how they use federal funding for demolitions. With the average cost of demolitions around $30,000, Surdyk said the city runs out of funds fast every year.

She said there are 50 homes in need of demolition this year and that there are only about 4 local contractors who have the background to do the demo’s.

Council President Tony Dolce said demolitions are important, “Last summer when we had our meetings, a lot of people had spoken about, talked about that. We don’t have a large fund for demolition and I think we need to look at that.”

Ecklund said her concern was whether demolitions should be done internally or contracted out.

Council member Andrew Faulkner said that was one of his concerns as well, “Under their proposal, they’ve got $200,000 in administrative fees. They’re going to do demo’s. That’s quite a few demo’s in that $200,000 in admin fees that could be done.”

Surdyk said she will be passing along questions and concerns to Land Bank Executive Director Gina Paradis with hopes to have her at the next Council work session on October 17 to provide more details.

Jamestown City Council

One of the resolutions using ARP funds would use $1.5 million to create a Non-Profit Assistance Program.

The staff report said the program would provide competitive grant funding designed to assist Jamestown non-profit organizations recover from the pandemic and corresponding economic crisis.

Awards would be structured as 50% grant and 50% forgivable loan. The loan portion of the award would be forgiven if measurables as stated by the applicant are met by December 31, 2026. Awards would assist with up to 75% of the total project costs in amounts not to exceed $200,000. A minimum of 25% of the total project costs will be the responsibility of the applicant. Awards over $200,000 would be considered on a case-by-case basis and will require a PILOT agreement with the City of Jamestown.

Council also will review a request to give $1 million in ARP funds to the Chautauqua County Land Bank program. The funding would be used to create a First Time Homebuyer’s Assistance Rebate Program, to support the expansion of the Hands On Neighborhoods Program, and to assist in the Land Bank’s purchase of an information management platform that will complement the “City’s use of Building Blocks to facilitate strategic initiatives, workflows and vendor communications.”

The 19A Homeownership Program also is on the agenda again with proposed funding of $750,000 in ARP funds.

The last resolution involving ARP funds is the use of $750,000 to create a Business Expansion & Building Acquisition program.

Under the program, businesses could use the funding for essential building systems including roof repairs, elevator repairs, property renovations to improve traffic patterns, drainage solutions and repairs, and other repairs deemed necessary to support expanded services.

The program also structures awards as 50% grant and 50% forgivable loan. The loan portion of the award will be forgiven if measurables as stated by the applicant are met by December 31, 2026.

Awards would assist with up to 75% of the total project costs in amounts not to exceed $200,000. A minimum of 25% of the total project costs will be the responsibility of the applicant.

Council also will review a $4,000 donation to the Police Department by Rand Precision Machining to fund a Citizens Police Academy.

According to the staff report, Chief Tim Jackson plans to revive the academy that was held several years ago. It would be a three-hour session held once a week for 10 weeks and would focus on arrest procedures, juvenile procedures, vehicle and traffic law, crime scene investigations, emergency response teams, drug enforcement, DWI, community policing, range procedures, and defensive tactics.

Council Committee meetings start at 6:30 p.m. with the Housing Committee, followed by other committees meeting at 7:00 p.m. The full work session begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Fourth Floor Police Training Room in City Hall. All meetings are open to the public with the full work session being streamed on jamestownny.gov.

The Welch Trail in Westfield

New recreational trail, The Welch Trail, is nearing completion in the Village of Westfield.

The non-motorized, shared-use trail is approximately 1.25 miles long. It’s being developed along a former historic trolley bed and will provide the public with an access point to Chautauqua Creek, which was previously inaccessible.

Once completed, the trail will include an overlook area and other amenities along the trail such as benches and picnic tables. The primary uses for the trail include: walking, jogging, cycling, inline skating, snowshoeing, and cross-county skiing.

The project cost is $312,250 with the Town of Westfield receiving a $200,000 grant in 2015 from the State Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation Office. Additionally, they received financial assistance from the Westfield Development Corporation and the Chautauqua County Department of Planning and Development.

The Chautauqua County Land Bank also assisted by leveraging the cost of demolishing the dilapidated Portage Inn as the local match. The Village of Westfield was also able to provide in-kind contributions to assist with the demolition of the Portage Inn.

The Town of Westfield was able to provide the property for this joint venture as well as the expertise of the Highway Department to construct the scenic walkway

WATCH

The discussion was broadcast live on WRFA radio, with video streaming available on both WRFA’s Facebook Page and Youtube Channel.

A virtual Q&A was also available for audience members.

Funding for the Community Conversation is made available by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s American Rescue Plan Act stabilization grant fund.