City Council President Tony Dolce reads proclamation recognizing retiring DPW-Parks Director Jeff Lehman (March 27, 2023)

Three grant allocations totaling $365,060 to Jamestown businesses have been approved by Jamestown City Council.

The three resolutions were approved by the Jamestown Local Development Corporation board at its March meeting, but each exceeded the $100,000 threshold, thus requiring council approval.

Summit Wealth Management‘s request of $108,705 was amended through a motion by Council member Andrew Faulkner to $83,100.

Faulkner said the amended amount is what was needed to finish the project, “They’ve already started it and been working on it. They recently purchased their building. They’re making their renovations to fit what they need, and the effects of COVID, what they needed. So, the form we got at the last work session, they had to break down all that and that will give them what they need to complete the project from here.”

Council member at Large Jeff Russell said several council members did tour the businesses, “And business owners did show them around and basically show them their project that was going on. So, there were council members that did their due diligence when they were invited to check out the projects.”

The allocation of $167,105 was approved for Panache and $114,855 was approved for Labyrinth Press Company.

Council also recognized Department of Public Works Director and Acting Parks Department Director Jeff Lehman for his 29 years of service to the city. Lehman’s last day before retiring is Friday, March 31. He served on the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities and City Planning Commission during his tenure, which also included overseeing the creation of the Jamestown Riverwalk.

Lehman is being succeeded by Acting DPW and Parks Director Mark Roetzer, who was sworn in at Monday night’s meeting for the temporary position while the city continues to looks for a full-time replacement.

A map highlighting the focus areas of the Urban Design Plan 2.0, approved by the Jamestown City Council during its May 2019 meeting.

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Council has approved a plan that will help chart the course for future development in the downtown area of the city, but it wasn’t unanimous.

During Monday’s city council meeting, lawmakers voted 8 to 1 in favor of adopting the city’s Urban Design Plan 2.0 – put together by the consulting firm Goody Clancy with oversight from the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation (JRC).

Funding for the new plan came from City of Jamestown, New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative and the Gebbie Foundation.

The guiding themes of our new plan focusing on four areas:

• Continue the renewal of the Chadakoin Riverfront;
• Make downtown more walkable and better connected;
• Expand on the programs and events that draw people downtown, and;
• Recognizing the potential of a growing a Health and Wellness medical corridor in the areas of Foote Avenue and Harrison and Institute Street.

The plan was more than a year in the making with community input sessions taking place in 2018, along with a roll-out and approval by the City Planning Commission earlier this year. The plan was also presented to the city council’s Public Safety Committee and full council in March and two public hearings on it were held in April to allow for final input before being adopted this month by the council.

However, despite the numerous opportunities offer input and also learn details about the plan, city councilman Andrew Liuzzo (R-At Large) voiced his concern about the plan, saying prior to the vote that he didn’t feel enough was done to seek input from the residents and businesses that might be impacted by any future development, specifically in the medical corridor, that stems from recommendations with the plan. As a result, he voted against adopting the document.

Following the meeting Liuzzo reiterated his thoughts to WRFA.

“I’m pretty sure that people on Maple Street and Arnold Street and Institute Street – that whole area – I’m pretty sure that they didn’t have any input on this,” Liuzzo explained. “I think that if you are going to plan Urban Planning, yeah, you can have your meeting and you can call for a public hearing but you see how well they [are attended]… You really have to walk the neighborhoods and ask, ‘This is what our plan is. How do you feel about that?’ That’s why in good conscious I voted ‘no.'”

JRC Executive director Peter Miraglia was in attendance during Monday’s meeting and afterward he spoke with us in response to Liuzzo’s concerns about a lack of effort in reaching out to residents and businesses.

“We did have two public hearings after the planning commission and the Public Safety Committee reviewed it. Yes, I would love to have the time to go door-to-door to talk with everyone about it. I don’t want to make excuses but it would have been impracticable at that time. We did get a pretty good input at the start of the process and we did have smaller groups during the public hearing but they did provide input. And my office is always open for anyone who has questions,” Miraglia said.

Both Miraglia and Mayor Sam Teresi also remind the public that the Urban Design Plan is designed to be a general vision and recommendation on the focus of future development efforts in the city, including making recommendations, but it is not intended to be a specific action plan.  Any recommended projects that do move forward will still have to be discussed by the council and other stakeholders and will likely have opportunities for the public to weigh in on them prior to any permitting or funding applications that may take place.

The plan can be viewed at the JRC’s website.

The Urban Design Plan 2.0 project is being overseen by Goody Clancy.  In 2006 the initial Urban Design Plan was created to outline a vision for renewing downtown Jamestown, identifies the actions needed to accomplish the vision, and defines the roles and responsibilities of the institutions and people who can make it happen. According to the city’s website, the Plan recognizes that community revitalization requires the involvement of both public and private sector to be successful and helps to guide these sectors as to the role they may play in rejuvenating downtown Jamestown.

After a dozen years of use, the document has been updated to help guide development over the next decade.

• VIEW DRAFT UPD

The city is the lead agent on the project and as such, is requesting that the Planning Commission review and approve the final draft of the plan and make a recommendation to the Jamestown City Council for adoption.

Kathleen Onufer from Goody Clancy will be at today’s meeting to make a presentation to the Planning Commission.

Tuesdays planning commission meeting begins at 3:30 p.m.  The city’s Strategic Planning and Partnership Commission will also review the plan on Wednesday morning at 8:30 a.m.

Both the Planning Commission meeting and the Strategic Planning and Partnership Commission meeting will take place in the mayor’s conference room on the 4th floor of city hall. Both are open to the public.