Dave McCoy, Pierre Chagnon, PJ Wendel, Chuck Schumer, and Mark Geise

Chautauqua County officials recently met with U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer in Washington DC to discuss needs of the county.

County Executive PJ Wendel, County Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon, Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency CEO and Deputy County Executive of Economic Development Mark Geise; and County Watershed Coordinator Dave McCoy went over ongoing community, business and infrastructure needs.

Schumer said in a statement, “Whether it is securing millions for our local and county governments in the American Rescue Plan or delivering critical investment to keep our waters clean, airports humming and harbors bustling, I always have the people of Chautauqua County at the top of my mind – and will always fight to make sure their voices are heard in Washington. I am eager to continue to work closely with the County Executive Wendel and leaders across Chautauqua to continue to deliver federal investment that will help breathe new life into our downtowns, energize our rural areas and farms, and preserve Chautauqua County’s natural beauty for generations to come.”

CCIDA CEO and Deputy County Executive of Economic Development Mark Geise said the agency has decided to “pump the brakes” on reviewing new applications, “The primary reason being we’ve got a number of them that are stacked up right now that have not closed. And we want to see some closings on those. I think there’s 21 all together and we’ve closed on four. 21 that we approved and closed on four. So, it’s sort of like let’s get more of those closed.”

Geise said that in a presentation he made before the County Legislature Planning & Economic Development committee, he informed that the 21 projects will create 350 megawatts and consume 2% of the county’s farmland, with the majority of that land being less than optimal soil.

He added that the IDA will still review solar applications but only if “a community pushes hard” for that.

Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA) CEO and Deputy County Executive of Economic Development Mark Geise presents the 2022 CCIDA Annual Report.

Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency

CCIDA CEO and Deputy County Executive for Economic Development Mark Geise presented the 2022 Annual Report on the CCIDA to the Board on Tuesday.

He said the IDA Board had approved more than 50 projects in 2022, which included the approval of business loans, development project incentives, and the procurement of grants, “We approved in 2022, either through loans or grants or PILOT incentives, over $500 million. Last year (2021), I believe it was over $140 million. It’s over $500 million this year. We did nine Al-Tech loans. We did eight EDA CARES Act loans. We secured $2.8 million in grant funds.”

Geise said 363 full time jobs were created with 774 being retained in 2022. He said the projects also will create hundreds of temporary construction jobs.

He also discussed the Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth, which was formed in 2019 as an initiative of the CCIDA’s non-profit subsidiary, the Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation.

Geise said the organization supports the five pillars of economic development, “We need to be thinking about place making, creating communities that people want to live. We need to be thinking about infrastructure – water lines, sewer lines, electric. We need to be thinking about house – creating housing that meets the needs and demands of talent. We’ve got to have the right housing stock. And workforce development, of course. We talk to businesses every day, ‘I need people.'”

Geise said CCPEG provided over $420,000 in financial assistance and technical assistance to support several dozen partner-led projects and initiatives. In addition, the Partnership was awarded nine grants in 2022, totaling over $1.4 Million, and leveraged an additional $7.5 Million on behalf of its partners.

Geise said his goals for 2023 include acquiring land for expansion of shovel-ready sites; and re-activating several key vacant buildings, including the Furniture Mart Building in Jamestown, Truck-Lite Building in the Town of Ellicott, and the Lenhart Hotel in Bemus Point.

He also wants to develop a marketing and branding strategy for the county to help address population decline and supply businesses with talent.

The CCIDA’s 2022 Annual Report can be found on the CCIDA website: https://ccida.com/about/

EDITOR’S NOTE: As a point of transparency and disclosure to our audience, Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency is a corporate underwriter for WRFA and has provided a financial contribution for the general operations of the station within the past year. Funding we receive for General Operations is not used to fund our coverage of local news in the community. That is only made possible through a Community Service Grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

Jamestown Airport

The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency Board has approved using $25,000 toward an Airport Market Analysis Study.

IDA CEO and Deputy County Executive of Economic Development Mark Geise said the goal is to do the study as part of hopefully bringing back Essential Air Service to the Jamestown Airport.

The County had proposed in 2021 using $75,000 in American Rescue Plan funds for the feasibility study, but the County Legislature voted it down.

Geise said the IDA’s contribution of $25,000 will lower the cost of the study to the County to $50,000.

Jamestown Airport Manager Shannon Barnhart said the study will look at various data points, “You know, it’s a possibility that air service may not be the best thing for Chautauqua County, but we don’t know. We hope that it is. But without any data showing that people are actually going to fly, we hear every day people want air service back, but, ‘Did you ever fly? You know, are you going to fly? How many times are you going to fly? Where do you spend your money now?’ Someone has to get out there and do that. We do not have the resources within the county, or myself, to go out and do that study on our own.”

Barnhart said the feasibility study is the missing piece in the application to the Department of Transportation. She said it’s the County’s intention to use the study to work with an airline in the application for EAS designation.

County Executive PJ Wendel said there’s also a plan in the event that the study doesn’t go they way they expect, “And Shannon has a plan to shift gears and move towards how do we make this a general aviation airport and how do we start to gain revenue and build that base up again? So, I think this is important, it’s vital, and it’s really going to finally answer the question we’ve been asking and that question hasn’t been answered.”

Geise said he anticipates a resolution will be brought before the County Legislature in February for the remainder of the $50,000 needed to fund the study.

EDITOR’S NOTE: As a point of transparency and disclosure to our audience, the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency is a corporate underwriter for WRFA and has provided a financial contribution for the general operations of the station within the past year. Funding we receive for General Operations is not used to fund our coverage of local news in the community. That is only made possible through a Community Service Grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

Mike Metzger

Longtime Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency Board Chair Mike Metzger has resigned.

Metzger submitted his resignation to the IDA on December 22. IDA CEO Mark Geise said Metzger had been discussing stepping down from the board, citing his pending retirement from SUNY Fredonia as its Vice-President of Finance and Administration.

Metzger was appointed to the IDA Board in March 1999 and has served as its chair for a number of years. He also was a voting member of the State Regional Economic Development Council.

Fancher Chair CEO and Owner Gary Henry is now the new chair of the IDA board.

CCPEG invites municipalities, nonprofits, academic institutions, economic development organizations, and community organizations to apply.

Grant awards typically range between $10,000 and $20,000; and requests of up to $50,000 will be considered.

Deputy County Executive for Economic Development Mark Geise said that 13 projects received grants in 2022 through the program.

Interested applicants should submit an online application at chqpartnership.org. All applications must be submitted by 4:00 p.m., December 2, 2022.

For additional information, visit https://www.chqpartnership.org/edprojectsupport, or contact Monica Simpson at (716) 363-3770 or simpsonm@chqgov.com.

The meeting was the second information session held by the Chautauqua Lake Protection and Rehabilitation Agency and consulting firm, Barton & Loguidice, as part of Phase One of the process. The goal was to present options on how to form a district and what made the most sense based on input.

The CLPRA estimates that, based on historical spending by local agencies, it would take a minimal annual budget in excess of $3 million to maintain current in-lake and watershed initiatives. Funding from a Lake District would be funneled through the CLPRA to those agencies.

Barton and Loguidice’s Jayme Berschard said there are several ways to define boundaries of a lake district including near lake properties that have waterfront access or shoreline properties, “Then we have our watershed, based on the HUC boundaries, which is lot of what the Lake Watershed Management Plan would have drawn up are the watershed boundaries that contribute to some of the watershed for the lake basin and how water basically moves in a particular area. Another potential idea to draw a boundary is to possibly use the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program.”

Berschard said Chautauqua County is unique in that it has an almost regional version of a LWRP.

When it comes to funding mechanisms for the Lake District, Bershard presented possible options such as a Near Lake District Tax, a Watershed/Drainage Area District Tax, a User Impact fee, and a Boat User fee.
Based on polling done at the meeting and online, over 60% of attendees support long-term and sustainable funding for Chautauqua Lake.

When ranked, attendees preferred to see a hybrid model for funding a lake district, with a watershed tax district coming in second, and a watershed impact district coming in third. Many cited creating a county-wide tax district as part of the hybrid model.

Deputy County Executive of Economic Development Mark Geise said another public meeting is set to occur late this Fall, possibly in November, as part of Phase One of the study. He said Phase 2 is anticipated to start in 2023 and would involve fleshing out what model will be used for a district, what the fees will be, who will pay those fees, and where the money will be directed.

Attendees were directed to send any additional input on the Lake District to the project page, which can be found here: https://bartonloguidice.mysocialpinpoint.com/chautauqua-co-lake-fund

CCIDA CEO Mark Geise said the county has a lot of brownfields, which are former industrial sites that have some level of contamination. He said getting those sites back into active use is often hampered by the cost of remediation, “Developers looking at those sites don’t always have the funding or cash available to go and do that, so one of the programs that the Environmental Protection Agency offers every year is a grant cycle to apply for funding to establish a Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund and grant program”

The grant received from the Environmental Protection Agency is $600,000 with a cash match from Chautauqua County and in-kind program administration match from the CCIDA bringing the total program amount to $720,000.

Geise said a benefit to remediating brownfields is that most are located in areas that already have infrastructure, “So it’s not like a grape field where you got to extend water and sewer, which would be very expensive. They’re already zoned correctly. Typically, the neighbors are already used to activity there, or were used to it, so it’s not like a big shock to the neighborhood. So there are a lot of advantages of looking at brownfields. Unfortunately, a lot aren’t that big. You know, we’re looking for big sites, but there are certainly really attractive sites for us to be concentrating on.”

Geise said details about the loan fund are still being finalized, but that they have submitted a work plan to the EPA that’s modeled on Niagara County‘s successful Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund.

According to Geise, the program should be ready to accept applications before the end of the year.

CCIDA CEO Mark Geise said the community is invited to attend the Jamestown Tarp Skunks‘ game tonight for free, “This is our 50th year in existence and we wanted to do something special to give back to the community. And we decided it would be great if we bought out the park for the night and then invited the community to come and watch a game for free, so that’s what we’re doing.”

The Tarp Skunks are playing the Batavia Muckdogs at 6:30 p.m. at Diethrick Stadium. You can also hear the game by tuning to 107.9 FM or livestreaming at wrfalp.com.