ALYSSA BUMP
Chief Copy & Design Editor
Blueprints, budgeting plans and business approvals are beginning to bring change to Dunkirk and Fredonia.
On Jan. 23, New York Governor Kathy Hochul visited Dunkirk, N.Y., to award the city a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Grant.
The Economic Development Announcement, hosted at the Clarion Hotel Conference Center, awarded the success of Dunkirk’s DRI Proposal. Dunkirk Mayor Willie Rosas regarded the news as “a very huge accomplishment” for the community, especially due to the city’s small size of approximately 13,000 residents.
“This is a very competitive process. We competed against bigger cities across Western New York, and some of those include the City of Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Lackawanna,” Rosas said. “So to know that we finished first with our plan is something for all of us to be proud of.”
Dunkirk’s DRI winning application proposed a variety of projects to bring vibrance to Dunkirk’s waterfront. In fact, the city’s optimal location by Lake Erie is an aspect of the community that Rosas believes set Dunkirk apart from other competitors.
“We are one of the only communities that [applied that] has a real waterfront. For example, the City of Buffalo has that really nice Marina, but the City of Dunkirk has four beaches. The City of Buffalo has no beaches,” Rosas said. “We have a very good opportunity to develop our waterfront area to a point where it can be a destination, and I’m talking about bringing in people from the states of Pennsylvania and Ohio.”
In a YouTube video posted by the Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth on Jan. 25, some potential DRI projects are illustrated.
The video was a part of Dunkirk’s winning DRI application for the grant. The description of the video also disclosed that each individual project mentioned still needs approval to be part of the final DRI project. Some of these ideas include new housing developments, an indoor waterpark, a renovated pier and marina, downtown historic district building renovations, an Amtrak station and a new Jamestown Community College North County Campus site.
Rosas said the city’s first priority, however, is the marina.
“The marina needs some really good work,” Rosas said. “We are working now with a different marina operator to come in and make some improvements. … Everything’s going to be redone there to make it very modern. We’re also looking at bringing in a space there to sell upper-end boats and fishing supplies. So, there’s a lot of excitement and demand for that right now, and we think that that’s something that will draw more people here to our marina.”
Rosas and his team are also looking to install an Amphitheatre in Memorial Park. This permanent structure will provide a summer concert venue close to the waterfront.
The Clarion Hotel may also be rebranded into Steelbound, complete with a new indoor waterpark connected to the hotel.
“An indoor waterpark would draw people in, not only in the summer, but all year round,” Rosas said.
Rosas would like to support senior and affordable housing projects. The City also hopes to work with small businesses, and JCC is looking to establish a North County Campus site in downtown Dunkirk.
“One of the highlights of our plan was to bring in Jamestown Community College,” Rosas said. “We have [some space] right across from City Hall in downtown Dunkirk. … [We are looking to work] with the owners of that building and provide incentive funding to them to reconstruct that host site and have a JCC complex right here in downtown Dunkirk.”
The process of bringing the DRI proposal to life will involve all departments in some way, but the DRI project plan is being led by Dunkirk’s Planning and Development Department. Their responsibilities will include presenting projects to the planning committee.
“We’ve already started the process of moving the plan forward,” Rosas said. “One of the first initial elements of the process is that we established a local planning committee.”
In an article published by the Dunkirk Observer on Feb. 17, Planning and Development Director Vince DeJoy explained that the local planning committee is responsible for hearing project proposals and providing project recommendations.
The committee, which is made up of about 12 experienced professionals, will work with the Empire State Development staff to decide how the DRI grant money will be spent.
“I just want to make it clear that the city does not receive a check for $10 million and then decide on how to spend it,” DeJoy told the Observer. “It’s gonna be a process that will be established through consultants.”
The intensive DRI planning process is required to ensure the success of the projects funded by the grant money. Therefore, Rosas and his team do not expect construction to start for another year.
“If the plan gets approved, you will see construction happening … a year from now. So, it seems like a long time, but it really isn’t,” Rosas said. “There’s a lot of work to be done behind the scenes in the engineering phase, the planning and design phases, including architectural renderings of these plans.… So there’s a lot of time with that part of the process. But once that piece is completed, then the construction will begin.”
Rosas and his team are hopeful that the City of Dunkirk’s new amenities will benefit more than just the Dunkirk community.
“I think that by having the plan come to fruition, the Fredonia students will be able to take advantage of the beautiful waterfront,” Rosas said. “ … The City of Dunkirk is within walking distance from the university, and we feel that we’re not doing enough to draw the students here to see everything that we have to offer. And so this plan will give us the opportunity to have better activities for the students to take advantage of while they’re here.”