John Jablonski

John Jablonski, who served as a Lakewood Village Board member from 2012 through 2015, is running for a new two-year term on this board.

Jablonski, a resident of the village for 30 years, founded and led the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy from 1990 to 2023. He has extensive community planning, development and grants writing experience, formerly serving as the Jamestown planning and grants coordinator, deputy director of planning for the town of Chatham, Cape Cod and planner for Genesee County, N.Y.

“As an executive director and a professional community planner, I have a successful track record of leadership and accomplishment. I have organized partners and obtained funding to bring numerous projects to fruition over my career. These projects have benefited Lakewood, Chautauqua Lake, the city of Jamestown, and the region, including the drafting the successful Greater Jamestown Economic Development Zone proposal. In my previous term as a Trustee, I worked to re-activate the Lakewood Community Development Corporation to improve the Chautauqua Avenue historic business district,” Jablonski said. “I will bring my experience to bear in working with the landowners, businesses and our community to explore and deliver vibrant new uses for the downtown former Wilson Farms-Benderson site and Chautauqua Mall properties.”

Jablonski said he wants to make the village more family- and business-friendly while working with child care providers, organizations and funders to develop more such child care businesses in Lakewood. As a retiree whose mother lives in an assisted living home, maintaining and increasing senior living and care opportunities is also a high priority. Jablonski said he wants to work with Village Board members, village employees and neighboring officials to explore cooperative ventures for providing effective, efficient policing, public safety and public infrastructure.

The health of Chautauqua Lake is a major concern. Jablonski said will use his prior experience and education to evaluate research findings by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Jefferson Project and GEI and engage to develop effective means of intercepting nutrients from reaching the lake and removing nutrients in the lake that fuel excessive plant and algal growth, as well as substantially improving plant management practices to ensure lakefront property owners can recreate in the lake.

Jablonski earned a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources from Cornell University. Jablonski has drafted more than $12 million in housing, economic development and conservation project proposals benefiting over the last 38 years.