Mat Hagberg speaks during the public hearing on the Gateway Lofts project at the Jamestown City Council chamber’s at the city Municipal Building, located at 200 E. Third St., Tuesday. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

The vast majority of those who spoke during a public hearing on the proposed $31 million Gateway Lofts project are in favor.

On Tuesday, a public hearing was held hosted by the city Planning Commission, who will need to approve the project’s site plan before it can continue. During the public hearing 27 spoke, with about 90 percent of them saying they favor the project. The majority of the people who spoke either work, are a board member or volunteer for organizations involved in the project.

One speaker who didn’t say he was in favor of the project, but also didn’t state he opposed the project was Andrew Liuzzo, At-Large councilman. Liuzzo asked why the developers for the project have selected the former Chautauqua Hardware building, a factory constructed in 1897 that now contains industrial contamination. He questioned whether this is the best location to invest $31 million. He asked if there were other options.

Steven Ricca, Bond Schoeneck & King attorney who is representing Southern Tier Environments For Living, said this is why the state Brownfield program was created by the state Department of Environmental Conservation — to spur economic development by cleaning up former contaminated industrial sites.

Liuzzo also asked if all the funding had been secured for the project. Steven Ald, STEL real estate development director, said with help from state Sen. Cathy Young the project partners, which include STEL, YWCA and Community Helping Hands, received $970,000 to develop the design of the Gateway Lofts, which today is known as the Gateway Center. He said they will still need to apply for funding for the estimated $31 million renovation of the former Chautauqua Hardware property. He added they expect to apply for the funding in November or December and expect an answer between March and June of next year.

Christine Schuyler, county social services commissioner and public health director, said the project is important because it will improve the lives for the physically and mentally challenged. She discussed how it will provide housing for temporary homeless, which has been a problem for the county since Gov. Andrew Cuomo implemented the Code Blue executive order in 2016, which states county officials have to take homeless people to a shelter, voluntarily or not, once the temperature drops to 32 degrees or below. The new policy was a departure from the former, which allowed a police officer or outreach worker to take people from the street only if they appeared to be in imminent danger or displayed signs of mental illness.

Last month during a Chautauqua County Legislature Human Services Committee meeting, Schuyler said year-to-date as of Aug. 31, the county has paid $842,181 for temporary shelter for the homeless in the county. In 2017, the county paid a total of $375,584, which was a drastic increase compared to the $86,224 funded in 2016.

Schuyler said some people are questioning why does this project have to be in Jamestown where several other social service programs and projects are located. She asked the question, “Why not Jamestown?” because it is the largest city in the county where safe, affordable and quality housing is most needed.

“I feel Jamestown should be proud to be a partner in making this project happen,” she said.

The proposed Gateway Lofts project includes two of the four floors of the apartment building being used to house non-violent offenders going through addiction treatment programs. The third floor of the renovated building will be for YWCA case management clients. The floor will be secured and the YWCA will provide 24-hour, seven-days-a-week staff to support single parents and children. This floor will have 16 apartments, with one, two and three bedrooms.

The fourth floor of the building will be operated by STEL for people in treatment programs. The 25 one bedroom and studio apartments on this floor, which will also be secured and staffed by STEL, will be for nonviolent offenders with mental health or drug addiction issues. There will be a referral process for tenants in the third and fourth floor apartments.

The second floor of the apartment complex will be quality, affordable housing for families, with 38 two- and three-bedroom apartments. There will be a lottery system to determine who will be able to rent the second floor apartments. The first floor will continue to be used by the nonprofit agencies located in the building like Community Helping Hands, St. Susan Center and Mental Health Association in Chautauqua County.

During a September city Planning Commission meeting, Ald said there will be no prison-released inmates at the proposed apartment project. He said the apartments for the STEL floor would be for those who might be involved in drug court or as an alternative to jail. He added there will be no sex offenders allowed. Also, to stay at the proposed site a person needs to be homeless.

Ald said they have already qualified to be a part of the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Brownfield Cleanup Program. He said some chemicals and oil contamination has been discovered to qualify the project for the state Brownfield program.

The city Planning Commission is slated to discuss the site plan again for the Gateway Lofts project at its next meeting at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. The commission could possibly vote on the site plan during the meeting.