Congressman Nick Langworthy speaking at Barcelona Harbor (February 15, 2023)

Congressman Nick Langworthy says the restoration of Barcelona Harbor is a top issue for him in Chautauqua County.

Langworthy, joined by Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel, Westfield Town Supervisor Martha Bills, and other officials, spoke on an eroded dock while being buffeted by high winds off Lake Erie in Barcelona Harbor.

Langworthy said the harbor was considered one of the few “safe harbors” on Lake Erie, but the Coast Guard removed that designation.

He said work needs to be done to get the harbor operational again, “And all of this is due to rising water levels and high winds in the Fall of 2019 that severely impacted this channel here and filled it in as you can see. And we’ll have some of the folks here share some of the specifics, because they live it every day. It’s increasingly shallow and it’s become all shoaled in, so we have to get this thing dredged and we have to get the funding in place. The viability of this harbor is at stake.”

$1.1 million in funding to dredge the harbor had been included in the Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus.

Langworthy said he hopes to have a meeting this week with the Army Corp of Engineers to discuss the timeline for dredging.

He said dredging is supposed to be done every 5 to 10 years with 2017 being the last time it was done in Barcelona, “But we’ve had extreme storms. And when you have extreme circumstances, you’ve got to change your model and we have to have a permanent solution, but we have to solve the short-term dilemma. And there’s too much debris here. We have to get this harbor opened back up so that we have a vibrant season ahead.”

County Executive Wendel said the harbor has gotten progressively worse since he took office in 2019 and that it’s at a short-term crisis point, “And this harbor is almost shut off right now. There was a safe harbor, if you look over my left shoulder, those markers have been taken down because this is no longer a safe harbor. You’re not able to get in. The Coast Guard, themselves, when they came in here a year or so ago to do an inspection dinged up one of their own props. And after that, they then declared that it’s not a safe harbor anymore, so this has been to the attention of everyone, but like anything else, it’s something we need to move on quicker.”

Wendel said commerce is at stake as well for the local fisheries, fishing charters, and dive charters that operate out of the harbor.

Dredging is scheduled to happen in July but town officials are working to get that moved up to May, depending on when fish are spawning. Wendel said with Lake Erie not being frozen, they’re hoping to see if it can be done as early as March so as not to impact the late Spring and Summer commercial fishing season.

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

Overland Trail in Chautauqua County

The Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation has received a grant to work on ways of bringing trail groups together.

The $25,000 grant from the Ralph C. Sheldon Foundation will explore the feasibility of establishing a “Friends of Chautauqua County Greenways Group.” This effort will bring together various trails organizations and determine how best they can work together as a Friends group to provide mutual support and seek funding together.

Chautauqua County has also set aside $250,000 in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act for trail maintenance and upgrades. The County plans to purchase new trail maintenance equipment to improve efficiency, and repair bridges on the Overland Trails, among other projects. Funding was also allocated for various trail projects, including major improvements to the Westside Overland Trail in Chautauqua Gorge and Mount Pleasant State Forests, the installation of trailhead kiosks on the Overland Trails and the Chautauqua Rails-to-Trails, new trail signs on the Overland Trails, and trail maintenance projects on the Chautauqua Rails-to-Trails.

County Parks Commission member Jacob Bodway said the promise of a comprehensive “Friends Group” will help break down the silos that have made it difficult for communication and county-wide planning, “The ‘Friends Group’ will help get everyone on the same page and will enable us to seek larger grant dollars for future trail projects. This moment represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to upgrade and expand the county’s greenspaces and to market the county as a regional leader in outdoor recreation.”

The County Planning Department has also been working in partnership with the Town of Westfield to develop the Welch Trail, which will connect downtown Westfield to Chautauqua Creek via a mile-long loop trail. The project, funded through a grant from the New York State Office of Parks and Historic Preservation, is expected to be completed this spring. The Department has also been working to secure easements for a portion of trail that would connect Barcelona Harbor to the Chautauqua Institution, with additional funding from OPRHP.

For more information on Chautauqua County’s ongoing trail development projects and access to the County Greenway Plan, visit planningchautauqua.com/planning/trails/.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

The town of Dunkirk has been awarded a $2,000,289 federal grant to fix a water main in the town.

The money was announced by U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand as part of $13.7 million dollars in federal funding for water infrastructure in New York’s rural communities.

Dunkirk will use the funds to improve approximately 12,900 linear feet of an eight-inch water main in the town of Dunkirk Shorewood’s water district.

The town of Westfield also will receive a grant of $920,000 and a $1,806,000 loan to construct a public water distribution system within the town.

The funding was allocated through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program and will be used to modernize rural drinking water and wastewater infrastructure throughout the state.