The Falconer Village Board continue to support Home Leasing Inc. in its efforts to rebuild a section of Main Street that was the site of structure fires in 2017. P-J photo by Jay Young

FALCONER — The Falconer Village Board issued a letter of support at a meeting this week for Home Leasing’s proposed development of Falconer Square along Main Street.

A site plan to rebuild a section that was impacted by structure fires in 2017 and 2018 was approved Feb.10, 2020. Home Leasing is now seeking an 18-month extension of that site plan from the village as the project continues to move forward.

“Home Leasing Inc. wished for a letter from us just in support of the project. Of course we always have been and will be,” Falconer Mayor James Jaroszynski said. “That is what they requested of the village just to continue on with their requests for funding.”

According to the current site plan, the construction for Falconer Square will include 15,904 square feet of mixed-use building and 4,847 square feet of townhomes located at 13-37 W. Main St.

In other business, Falconer officials are reviewing the possibility of closing the village fueling station in favor of a contract to use the Chautauqua County station located off of North Work Street.

Public works superintendent Peter Fuller has been in contact with the county on the potential switch, and estimates that the cost to use the county station will be $600 per year based on current fuel usage. Figures from the village indicate that the county charges 5 cents per gallon of gasoline above the state bid price for regular gas and an additional ten cents per gallon for diesel.

The fuel tanks currently being used by the village are 30 years old, and could be sold if the change is made.

“I think it is a great thing,” Jaroszynski said of the proposal. “The other municipalities around our immediate borders already use it, being the Falconer schools, town of Ellicott, Chautauqua County itself, of course (Chautauqua Area Regional Transit System). Hopefully it will save the village residents at least a little bit of money on gasoline.”

The proposal will need to go through an approval process at the county level before it can be implemented.

At its prior meeting on July 13, the board was briefed on an incident that occurred at the village park. Town of Ellicott police officers responded to an incident where a wedding party allegedly broke a lock on the gate of the town park in order to enter the area.

“For whatever reason, this wedding party, I was told it was between 15 and 25 people, they decided to break the lock off of the gate and enter the park,” Jaroszynski said. “In the midst of the investigation the people paid for the repair of the lock. I believe the case was closed out.”

Jaroszynski said that the park remains open for joggers and members of the public, although the gate is not open.