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Planning Commission Approves New Credit Union Site Plan

A new Greater Chautauqua Federal Credit Union is being proposed to be built at the corner of Clinton and West Fifth streets in Jamestown. The city Planning Commission approved the site plan on Tuesday. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

The site plan for a new branch office of the Greater Chautauqua Federal Credit Union has been approved.

On Tuesday, the city Planning Commission approved the site plan for the new branch that will be constructed on the corner of West Fifth and Clinton streets. The plan for the new building calls for the existing smaller bank building to be demolished, but the existing drive-through lane that enters from Clinton Street and exits on to West Fifth Street will remain, but will be resurfaced.

Ed Schober of LaBella Associates said the new credit union branch will be a 2,300-square-foot full-service branch. There will be 13 parking spaces in the lot at the new building. He said there will be site drainage at the new location, with two catch basins connected to the existing storm sewer.

In other business, the commission also had a discussion with representatives involved with the Gateway Lofts project. Katie Castro, Community Helping Hands board chairwoman, Steve Ald, Southern Tier Environments For Living development director, Amy Rohler, former Community Helping Hands executive director and United Way of Southern Chautauqua County executive director, and Steve Ricca, attorney for STEL, talked to the commission about its February decision calling for a positive declaration on the environmental impact study for the State Environmental Quality Review, or SEQR, process.

The discussion centered around the mitigation plan STEL has proposed in order to renovate the Gateway Center into a multi-floor apartment complex with 110 units. The last mitigation plan from STEL called for the demolition of 21 dilapidated houses at the cost of at least $350,000. The discussion Tuesday focused on the possibility of STEL also funding the renovation of city houses as a new part of the mitigation plan.

Ricca and Ald said they are in favor of submitting a new mitigation plan if it doesn’t lead to another positive declaration of the SEQR process.

In February, the commission for a second time called for a positive declaration for the Gateway Lofts project. In October 2018, the first time the Gateway Lofts project was being discussed, the commission also called for a positive declaration.

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