Jamestown Director of Development Crystal Surdyk addresses City Council Housing Committee (February 13, 2023)

The City of Jamestown has started the process to update the City’s Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code.

Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said the New York State Department of State has to review and approve the city’s request for proposal to do updates for both. She anticipates that will be completed in the next 30 days.

Surdyk said when it comes to vacant properties in the city, an update of the code will help them redevelop those sites, “Because when we do a demolition and we do have a vacant property that is tucked between two houses, right now our code is prohibitive of building something new. So as we do the zoning code update, that is something we are going to take a close look at and adjust it so it makes sense, so it’s modernized. So we’re talking about, what is the future of the city and how are we allowing for those in-fill buildings?”

Surdyk added that the update of the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code is a five year process and that it will take time to see results.

Surdyk also shared with the Housing Committee that a contract with the Chautauqua County Land Bank should be signed by the end of this week. That contract will allow the Land Bank to proceed with a list of priority demolitions in the City.

Following a citizen request that the Housing Committee meetings be longer than 15 minutes, Council President Tony Dolce said trying to schedule that committee has always been frustrating.

He said committees are always welcome to meet at a different time or day if needed, “We had before a public safety committee, a few terms ago, that met during the morning because they were all retired, they were all available, and they had more time, and they were able to do that. And I realize that Marie (Carrubba) has a job and others have jobs and work. They’re more than welcome, and we can discuss, if there’s a time when they need more time a week here or once a month, rather than meeting 15 minutes and shoving everything in.”

Housing Committee Chair Marie Carrubba said her conflict comes from another board she has been a member of for the last 30 years, “I have made adjustments as I’ve been able to and I will continue to do that. But I’m always available. If people call me at home, call me at work. I get a lot of calls even outside of my ward about housing issues because they know I’m on the Housing Committee or they just think I get things done, so they call me. So I’m always open to that. I return calls.”

Public Safety Committee Chair Brent Sheldon shared that the City has hired two new police officers. He said they are currently in the Sheriff’s Academy and will do their field work with JPD next month.

When it comes to hiring the third officer approved by Council to handle quality of life issues like noise, Dolce said they can look at ideas for that, “Some things that we can look at. Things are already cranking up. I’ve already gotten nuisance complaints of noise and motorcycles and cars. Those are going to get worse as the season goes on and there are certainly some things that the administration and council can look at too to try to deal with that. I know that they’re a busy group dealing with and prioritizing what they have to go after but there may be some things we can look at.”

The two new hires now brings the total number of officers in the Police Department to 61.

In the sales tax report that will be presented to City Council tonight, the total sales tax collections for 2022 totaled $8,137,477. This is $5,943 more than what was budgeted for the year.

For 4th quarter receipts, the City received $2,061,532, which is 8.9% more than received in 4th quarter of 2021.

The 1st quarter 2023 payment will be received in May of 2023

City Council will review a resolution to allocate $295.92 of American Rescue Plan Act “Lost Revenue” funds toward the purchase of Mobile Data Terminals for twelve police vehicles. The terminals had initially been funded with $40,000 but actual costs came in slightly higher.

The Department of Development also will hold a discussion regarding demolitions, launch of the comprehensive plan and Zoning Code update.

The Council Committee meetings start at 6:45 p.m. for the Housing Committee and 7:00 pm for the Finance, Public Safety, and Public Works committees. The full work session is at 7:30 p.m. in the fourth floor Police Training Room in City Hall. The public is welcome to attend all meetings with the full work session being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley speaks with Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist about details of his State of the City address including discussion on cannabis, an update of the City’s Zoning code, and more.

Eddie Sundquist

We discussed housing issues with Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist as well as upcoming projects including the updating of the city’s zoning code and comprehensive plan.

Eddie Sundquist

John Sellstrom takes oath of office as City of Jamestown’s new Comptroller (July 25, 2022)

Jamestown City Council has approved the city moving forward with a pedestrian and traffic safety strategy.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the city is applying for a federal grant to help create the Vision Zero Plan for the city, “It is essentially an added amount, added bonus, to Complete Streets which the City already has and says ‘How do we educate the public? How do we also redesign not only our streets but other components of the city to provide zero fatalities over the course of ten years?’ So there’s a lot of things that have come up over the past several years with City Council, including stop-arm cameras for school buses which we’re moving forward with as well as school speed zone cameras.”

Sundquist said the plan would also be used in designing streets and sidewalks. As part of the approved resolution by Council, the city also would develop an annual progress report on the Vision Zero goals and outcomes that would be presented to City Council.

Council has approved the shared services agreement with Jamestown Public Schools regarding sidewalk plowing.

Sundquist said the approval was needed so the school district could purchase the sidewalk plows, and that the city was continuing to work on how staffing would be done of those plows, “We’re still working with the union to determine how we’re going to handle the personnel power for that. Whether that’s going to be a seasonal position, part-time position, or full-time position, there’s a lot of factors and as you probably know in this job market right now, we’re not quite sure what we’re going to get as we start to get closer.”

The shared services agreement initially proposed hiring two Parks employees using American Rescue Plan funds at an estimated cost through 2026 of $689,672.

The Jamestown School Board passed the agreement at its meeting earlier this month.

Council has approved funding to do a Zoning Code update.

Sundquist said the city’s zoning code was originally created in the 1960s, “We wanted to provide this opportunity and the funding for the zoning so we could do both the Strategic Plan, the Comprehensive Plan, at the same time as Zoning. It is actually cheaper for the city to do that. So we’re looking at about $200,000 to do both. $100,000 comes directly from the State. The other $100,000 will come from federal ARPA funding, Rescue Plan funding.”

Sundquist said a request for proposals to do the updates will go out in August.

Council also approved four appointments to a new Broadband Ad-Hoc Committee.

Sundquist said the ad-hoc committee will determine if the city should move forward with municipal broadband or a municipal fiber network, “In the meantime, we are also working on working with our federal partners to determine what grants are out there. We know that in talking with the State Broadband Office, the City of Jamestown is probably the furthest ahead of any city or municipality. So they’re very excited about our work and are currently creating the grants that they received from the Federal funding for us to apply for.”

Brendan Fagan, Phillip Zimmerman, Dan Swackhammer, and Bill Johnston are the citizen appointments with Sundquist adding the committee will also feature representatives from local foundations, the Jamestown Public Schools District, Jamestown Board of Public Utilities, and City Council.

Council also approved appointing John LaMancuso as chair of the Jamestown Planning Commission. He replaces Greg Rabb, who resigned in June. His term expires on December 31, 2022.

Jamestown City Council

This is the second time Council will be voting on a contract this year after voting down the one presented to them in February that included hiring of four firefighters to man a second ambulance.

The proposed contract with Jamestown Professional Firefighters Association Local 137 would cover January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2024. It includes a 2.5% wage increase for the first three years of the contract with a 2.75% increase the fourth year. The health insurance contribution rate would raise from 21% for 2021 to 23% for 2022 through 2024.

City Council also will vote on resolutions totaling $4.5 million toward contracts for constructing the new Vehicle Maintenance Building.

The new facility will be located on Washington Street in the former Hartley Buick building.

Business Innovation Group of East Rochester would be contracted with for nearly $2.5 million for the general construction contract. Ciancio Mechanical of Jamestown would be contracted with for $369,504 to do the plumbing. JMI Heating and Air of Frewsburg would receive a contract of $889,000 for the mechanical contract. And Ahlstrom Schaeffer of Jamestown would receive the electrical contract for $744,000.

Three applications for Consolidated Funding grants from New York State will be considered under new business. One is for $361,473 to do phase 2 of the Chadakoin River West Brownfield Opportunity Area project. The required local match is 10% or $36,174.

The second Consolidated Funding grant application is for $301,332 toward activities identified in the Chadakoin River Strategic Business Plan. The local match has already been met by American Rescue Plan Funds.

The third grant application is for $20,000 so the City can enter into the New York Main Street Program. The 5% local match totals $1,053.

Also under new business,Council will vote on adopting the Vision Zero Strategy plan in an effort to reduce traffic deaths and injuries in Jamestown. The plan is a public health-based traffic safety strategy that uses a “data driven multi-disciplinary and safe systems approach that also increases safe healthy equitable mobility for all.” The city would use the strategy when designing streets and sidewalks and as well when performing street maintenance.The resolution also states that the city would develop at Road Action Plan and also would provide an annual report to City Council on the outcomes on meeting goals of the Vision Zero plan.

Council also will vote on the shared services agreement with the Jamestown Public Schools District for sidewalk plowing in the winter. The proposed cost to the city through 2026 is $689,672 and would be funded using ARP monies.

A resolution to spend $100,000 to update the City’s Zoning Code is also on the voting agenda.

The work session before the voting session takes place at 7:00 p.m. in the Police Training Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. The voting session takes place at 7:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers on the second floor. The meetings are open to the public with the voting session being streamed on jamestownny.gov.

One resolution would use $750,000 in ARP funds to create a permanent 19A Homeownership Program.

According to the staff report, the city would use the 19A program to acquire vacant properties in Jamestown. As per the requirements of the statute, these properties have to have at least one actionable code enforcement violation. The city would then work with other non-profits to rehabilitate the structures either using ARPA funds or through the enrollment of the new owner in the HUD-funded HOME Program.

Council also will review a request to fund an additional $1 million to the Building & Property Infrastructure Improvements program. Council had approved funding that program with $500,000 in April after staff had requested it be funded with $1 million. Department of Development staff are requesting the additional monies after business application requests for program funding came in at $2,807,533.

And a resolution for an additional $2 million for the Roof, Private Sewer Lateral, Private Water Line Repair/Replacement Program will be reviewed.

The program was originally funded with $750,000 in ARP funds in March. The application request period saw 131 requests from homeowners of up to $25,000 per property, well exceeding what was available in grant funds.

The Housing Committee will begin reviewing three proposed Housing Ordinances that pertain to Rental Inspection, Vacant Property Registration, and Public Nuisances.

According to the staff report, the rental inspection would require inspections at the time of the sale or transfer of rental properties and require them to be brought up to code in the aftermath of the transfer.

The public nuisance ordinance would replace the current, vague nuisance ordinance with a more robust one that lists out the violations that would result in a nuisance finding and also limits the reach to only those units in which the nuisance(s) originate. The current nuisance ordinance had led to a lawsuit due its vague and unenforceable nature.

The vacant real property ordinance requires owners of vacant properties in the City to register the vacant building, create a plan detailing what will be done at those properties, and charges a fee that increases with each year the building continues to remain vacant.

The City is also requesting $100,000 to do a zoning code update. The City hasn’t updated its Comprehensive Plan since 1998 and Zoning Code since 1969 with amendments in 1998. The City was awarded a CFA grant in 2021 to complete a Comprehensive Plan and is seeking funds to complete the Zoning Code Update simultaneously.

Council also will review a resolution to accept a $18,866 Justice Assistance Grant. The grant would be used by the Jamestown Police Department to purchase day-to-day supplies and small equipment. A public hearing on the Justice Assistance Grant will be held at 9am, Tuesday, July 19

Council also will continue discussions on a shared services agreement with the Jamestown Public Schools District for sidewalk plowing in the winter. The proposed cost to the city through 2026 is $689,672 and would be funded using ARP monies.

Housing Committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Monday with other committee meetings at 7:00 p.m. The full work session will take place at 7:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers on the 2nd floor of City Hall. The meetings are open to the public with the full work session streamed on jamestownny.gov.