Hideaway Bay Resort Groundbreaking (June 16, 2023)

The new Hideaway Bay Resort development in the Village of Silver Creek has held a groundbreaking event.

Owner and Developer Kevin Cullen said the future setting which will include 10 cottages, also known as “glamping units,” with high-end décor; private patio space; and waterfront views. A new 2-story event space will be built to host events such as weddings and retreats, with upper and lower patios, and an indoor/outdoor full-service bar. Proximity to the shoreline has been incorporated into the structural design and engineering.

Cullen said the resort will be four seasons and plan to offer watersports such as paddleboarding and kite boarding along with an active recreation center and a natural kayak launch, in-house fishing guides, and educational birding events. Hideaway Bay Resort will also book other off-site activities and excursions such as horseback riding, snowmobiling, skiing, kiteboarding, and more.

Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency CEO Mark Geise said the building had fallen into disrepair, was foreclosed on by the County for non-payment of back taxes, and was eventually acquired by the Chautauqua County Land Bank. He said the Land Bank held onto the property in order to assist in returning it to a productive use that met community and County goals.

The project received $1.4 million in CCIDA financing and tax incentives; Chautauqua County Land Bank site coordination and transfer, along with navigating an unexpected arson and demolition; New York Small Business Development Center at JCC business advisement; and New York Housing and Community Renewal loans.

Cullen said construction will begin within a week or so, and barring any unforeseen obstacles, with the resort expected to open for business in May 2024.

For more information on the Hideaway Bay Resort, visit www.hideawaybayresortny.com.

Former Silver Creek School (Google Maps)

The developer set to renovate the former Silver Creek School into senior housing has walked away from the project.

The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency sent out a release saying that Region Nine Housing Corporation made the announcement at a recent meeting with town, county, state and IDA officials.

Region Nine Director of Development Mark Comroe said the company is ceasing its involvement in pursuing all low-income housing tax credit development, “Unfortunately, despite our commitment as a non-profit to take no development fees or money from the project, the dramatically increased renovation costs have made the building and maintenance of this project untenable. Available grants, tax credits, and tax credit rental limits combined could not meet the costs associated with converting this historic school building into affordable homes for seniors.”

The Village of Silver Creek Senior School Apartments project involved the substantial rehabilitation, conversion, and an addition to a vacant, nearly 100-year old abandoned former school into a facility with 47 units of affordable rental homes for seniors ages 62 and older.

The project had been awarded $1 million in Restore New York funds in December 2022.

State and local officials are hopeful that another developer will be able to step in to move forward with the project.

The White Inn in Fredonia has received $1.25 million toward the renovation and reopening of the former hotel and restaurant.

In the village of Westfield, the Welch’s Building will receive $1.5 million toward its historic rehabilitation and adaptive use of the building. The project will create 46 new housing units in the village.

The City of Dunkirk will receive $1 million for its Central Avenue Transformation project. That project will address vacant properties in the 400 block of Central Avenue in Downtown Dunkirk. Local investor Allan Steinberg, who bought 411 Central, plans to create a “Broadway Market” type of space where kiosks could be rented and a butcher shop reopened. A two-story building located at 423-427 Central Avenue also would be developed into four new apartments.

And the Village of Silver Creek Senior School Apartments project has been funded with $1 million. The project at 60 Main Street involves the substantial rehabilitation, conversion, and an addition to a vacant, nearly 100-year old, 57,000 sq. ft. abandoned former school into a 59,900 sq. ft. building with 47 units of affordable rental homes for seniors ages 62 and older.

Restore New York supports municipal revitalization efforts across the state, helping to remove blight, reinvigorate downtowns, and generate economic opportunity in communities statewide. The program, administered by Empire State Development, is designed to help local governments revitalize their communities and encourage commercial investment, improve the local housing stock, put properties back on the tax rolls and increase the local tax base.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced over $33 million has been awarded to dozens of municipalities for local infrastructure improvement and housing rehabilitation projects. The grants are designed to help communities provide decent affordable housing and safe living environments primarily for low- and moderate-income residents.

The Village of Celoron will use $500,000 to provide housing rehabilitation assistance to low-income homeowners.The Town of Ellington will use $700,000 for a manufactured housing replacement program. And the Village of Silver Creek will use $500,000 to provide housing rehabilitation assistance to low-income homeowners.

The Community Development Block Grant program is a federally funded program administered by New York State Homes and Community Renewal that helps counties, cities, towns and villages with projects that improve communities and benefit residents across the state.

“This company that they’re proposing to rehabilitate the building is in the best interest of Chautauqua County and the Village of Silver Creek and the residents.”

Region Nine U-A-W Housing Corporation plans a historic renovation of the property that converts the school into 47 affordable apartments for people age 55 and older. Gerry Legislator Dan Pavlock added his support, saying the project will be very positive for the community,

“It’s always great when a company shows interest in revitalizing and re-utilizing some of our current structures that we have. And what a great thing. And the type of facility that is suggested for this project will be needed in that community.”

Region Nine plans to use State and Federal resources to help fund the renovation.

The County Legislature also approved two grants of $13,000 for the Dunkirk and Jamestown Airports. The monies are part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriation Act of 2021. They’re to be used to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus impacts, including support for continuing airport operations.

In addition, the County Clerks Office will be able to digitize microfilm more easily with the Legislature’s approval to replace a 40-year old microfilm reader.

The latest round of scores is based on 2015 financial information provided to DiNapoli’s office by local governments. The monitoring system evaluates local governments on nine financial indicators and creates a fiscal condition score. Indicators include fund balance, cash-on-hand and patterns of operating deficits.

Municipalities receiving a score of 45 to 55 are placed in the “Susceptible to Stress” category. Those receiving a score of 55 to 65 are placed in the “Moderate Stress” category. And municipalities with scores of 65 or higher are listed in the Significant Stress” category.

As mentioned, Cherry Creek was the only municipality in Chautauqua County to appear on the list, under the moderate stress category.  Cherry Creek received a 2015 score of 62.5.

While no other municipality in the county was placed on the list for this year, the city of Jamestown was very close to the “Susceptible to Stress” category with a 2015 score of 44.2. That’s up from 40.8 in 2014 and 37.5 in 2013.  Local municipalities that saw noticeable drops in their scores included the villages of Silver Creek (30.4 in 2015, down from 50.8 in 2014) and Lakewood (25.4 in 2015, down from 41.3 in 2014).

This is the fourth year DiNapoli’s office has evaluated the financial stability of local governments.

A complete, sortable list of fiscal scores for municipalities is available at the Comptrollers website.

The Board of Elections will act as the chief election officials for all villages this year except Sinclairville and Cassadaga.  These two villages are continuing to use their respective village clerks as the chief village election officer and will be counting votes by hand.  All other villages will vote on the county owned optical scan paper ballot system.

Villages with contested races include Brocton, Cherry Creek, Forestville, Lakewood, Mayville, Silver Creek and Westfield.

Villages with uncontested ballots include Bemus Point, Cassadaga, Falconer, Panama, Sherman and Sinclairville.

Village elections will be held at their normal November poll site for village voters who have an election, except the Bemus Point elections will be held at Bemus Point Village Hall.

All village poll sites will be open today from Noon until 9 p.m.

COMPLETE LIST OF VILLAGE ELECTION RACES