Officials celebrate the Riverwalk Illumination Project with the Jamestown BPU’s silo lit in the background (November 10, 2022)

The City of Jamestown has officially “flipped the switch” on the Riverwalk Illumination project.

The project, funded through Downtown Revitalization Initiative monies, lights up the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Coal Silo, Washington Street Bridge piers and abutments, and the Main Street Bridge arches over the Chadakoin River.

BPU Senior Electrical Engineer Kris Sellstrom said he remembers looking at the BPU’s silo and discussing with others what to do with it, “And how are we going to revitalize this river. As the Riverwalk started getting put in and some of the local lighting got put in there was kind of a resurgence of an idea to light up all of this great infrastructure. We came out with a few generators one night and stuck them under the silo and thought that as pretty cool. We ended up playing around a little bit. The Washington Street bridge got pulled into that and that’s probably the keynote now. When you see it tonight, I think you’ll be really surprised how beautiful that looks.”

The City of Jamestown received $10 million through the DRI in 2016.

Jamestown Board of Public Utilities board meeting

The Board of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities has voted to eliminate the Energy Efficiency Program Coordinator position.

The civil service position was created in 2009 for the purpose of development, implementation and administration of energy efficiency incentives and rebate programs in the BPU territory. Dan Reynolds had held that position since 2009.

General Manager Dave Leathers said work under the title has changed significantly over the last 13 years with the workload changing to system enhancements versus customer rebate programs, “The system level improvements are LED street lights that are put throughout the community, advanced metering infrastructure projects, anything that we’ll work on related to the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, so the difficulty with a utility position similar to city positions is this is a civil service position that has minimum qualifications.”

Leathers said due to those qualifications they can’t just place the current employee in another job. He also addressed a concern raised by citizen Doug Champ about the elimination of the title ahead of New York State trying to “electrify everything,” “If we’re looking at electrification of buildings and we need to help people with electric services, that’s likely an electrical engineer, not the individual that’s qualified for the Energy Efficiency Coordinator position with an Environmental Sciences degree. So it’s a very difficult decision that’s been made but it’s necessary decision for the utility.”

The BPU board also approved the purchase of two new garbage trucks at a cost of $449,650. These vehicles will replace a 2015 and a 2017 garbage truck which will be sold. Leathers said they do not expect delivery of the new trucks until 2023.

Leathers added the City Riverwalk Lighting project has begun with light units being installed on the BPU’s silo. He thanked the Jamestown Fire Department for their assistance in hosing down the silo in order to clean the surface.

The program, which will feature the awarding of grant money through the state’s consolidated funding application initiative, will begin at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Egg Center for Performing Arts in Albany.

Several projects in downtown Jamestown have already received favorable scores as part of the CFA process.

In October, the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council (WNYREDC) submitted its 2016 Progress Report – which recommended 32 priority projects to advance the region’s growth objectives, including six from Chautauqua County – including the National Comedy Center’s Gap Funding project in Jamestown, with $1.5 million requested (the total cost of the project is $20.4 million).

The report also scored dozens of other projects from across Western New York that have applied for funding but weren’t given “priority” status. These projects scored either a 20 (categorized at “other priority project”) or a score of 15 (“regionally significant priority project”).

Projects in downtown Jamestown receiving a score of 20 include the National Comedy Center, the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts Master Plan, and the Tracy Plaza renovation project.

Those receiving a score of 15 include Phase II of the Winter Garden Plaza, Façade work at St. Luke’s Church, and the archives project at RTPI.

Downtown Jamestown projects that didn’t have a score listed include the Riverwalk Illumination Project, the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation’s Up Close regional plan, and the Fenton Mansion ADA porch restoration.

As part of the CFA initiative for this year, the 10 Regional Councils across the State are competing for up to $175 million in capital funds and $70 million in Excelsior Tax Credits for projects. The CFA funding is separate from the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant Jamestown was selected to received earlier this year.

The CFA award program Event will be streamed live on www.governor.ny.gov.

Earlier this month the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council (WNYREDC) submitted its 2016 Progress Report – entitled A Strategy for Prosperity – to New York State. The progress report details the council’s achievements in implementing its five-year strategic plan and reflects Western New York’s progress on efforts to ensure sustainable and long-term economic growth.

The report also recommends 32 priority projects to advance the region’s growth objectives, including six from Chautauqua County. These priority projects were announced in September and included the National Comedy Center’s Gap Funding project in Jamestown, with $1.5 million requested (the total cost of the project is $20.4 million).

And the report also scores dozens of other projects from across Western New York that have applied for funding but weren’t given “priority” status. These projects scored either a 20 (categorized at “other priority project”) or a score of 15 (“regionally significant priority project”).

Projects in downtown Jamestown receiving a score of 20 include the National Comedy Center, the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts Master Plan, and the Tracy Plaza renovation project.

Those receiving a score of 15 include the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation’s Stabilization plan for buildings located at 10-12 E. Second St, Phase II of the Winter Garden Plaza, Façade work at St. Luke’s Church, and the archives project at RTPI.

Downtown Jamestown projects that didn’t have a score listed include the Riverwalk Illumination Project, the JRC’s Up Close regional plan, and the Fenton Mansion ADA porch restoration.

To encourage the implementation of the Regional Economic Development Councils’ strategic plans and to continue to motivate investment opportunities and job creation, the 10 Regional Councils across the State are competing for up to $175 million in capital funds and $70 million in Excelsior Tax Credits for projects.

the 2016 funding award announcements are anticipated in mid-December.

• VIEW COMPLETE JULY VOTING AGENDA

Projects seeking funding from the state include:

• $1.7 million for Green Innovation Grant to fund a large portion of the Tracy Plaza renovation project – Total cost: $4.1 million
• $200,000 for the Jamestown Riverwalk Illumination Project – total cost: $400,000.
• $500,000 Main Street grant for preservation work to the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts complex – total cost: $4 million.
• Up to $738,000 for the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church exterior renovation project – total cost: $985,000.

Several of the projects are being coordinated by the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation with the city required to apply for the funding as the hosting municipality.

According to JRC executive director Greg Lindquist, even if the city doesn’t receive any money from the 2016 CFA process, several of these projects could still move forward based on $10,000,000 in funding the city could soon be receiving from the state.

Earlier this month Governor Andrew Cuomo made several stops in cities across the state to announce the recipients of the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative competitive grant program, which provides $10,000,000 each for communities in 10 different regions of the state. The governor was slated to appear in Jamestown earlier this month to make a special announcement but the appearance had to be postponed. Many suspect the announcement involved Jamestown being the recipient for the competitive grant for the Western New York region… though that has not been confirmed by the governor’s office.

Monday’s city council meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. on the 2^nd floor of city hall and is open to the public.

Conceptual Images of the proposed Riverwalk Illumination Project, featuring a public-private partnership between the city, local foundations, and Volt Vision.

JAMESTOWN – City officials are hoping the state will help support a project that could brighten the Greater Jamestown Riverwalk and make it an enjoyable destination even after the sun goes down.

On Monday night Jamestown City Development Director Vince DeJoy shared with the Jamestown City Council details of the Illumination of the Jamestown Riverwalk Project.

According to DeJoy, the purpose of the project is to use light as art to create a safer and more vibrant riverfront attraction in downtown Jamestown. The project is being developed by Volt Vision, which is owned and operated by Steve French, in partnership with the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation, city of Jamestown, Jamestown Board of Public Utilities, National Comedy Center, Gebbie Foundation and the Johnson Foundation.

• READ PROJECT PLAN

If the project can secure $400,000 project, nine different areas of the Riverwalk would be selected and “lite up” with the use of special LED lights from Volt Vision that could change color and also feature various designs.

The project would be patterned after other Volt Vision projects that have been featured at the Dykeman Young Gallery, Night Lights at the Heron, and the Buffalo Botanical Garden.

The city is hoping half the project can be founded with state funding through the consolidated funding application grant process. The other half would be covered by Gebbie and Johnson Foundation donations to fund the project. Maintenance for the project will be funded by the JRC.

The application for funding will be submitted by the end of this month.

Proposed Project Map, identifying locations where illumination sites would be located.