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Municipal Matters

Third Street Oaks A Major Late-Season Headline

A few of the Third Street oak trees city workers are in the process of cutting down. Because of the potential danger and liability of the oak threes, with some being more than 100 years old, the city is cutting down 43 of them along Third Street. P-J photos by Dennis Phillips

Editor’s Note: The Post-Journal is looking back at the top stories of 2020 and the way they will shape the coming year. Today, 20 for 2020 looks at the municipal stories that were among the most-read in the newspaper this year.

It only seems like COVID-19 was the only topic in the news this year.

But the public’s business still needed tending to in the midst of the pandemic, and no municipal matter resonated with the public more than the news that the cathedral oaks on West Third Street in Jamestown needed to be cut down.

Cutting the majestic oak trees has already begun while planting of new stock will take place next year. Dan Stone, city arborist, said recently each tree will be different to cut down, which will impact how long it will take city workers to remove 43 oak trees from West Third Street. Despite the loud public outcry the day the news broke, Stone said the response has been positive from people who would like to repurpose the wood from the trees. He said anyone interested in wood from the oak trees can call him at 483-7554.

“It’s been positive. I’ve got four or five page of names. More than 30 people have reached out to me about it,” he said.

Stone said some people want the wood to make Christmas ornaments some want to make picture frames and some would like to make furniture or tables.

“People from all around the local area and some people from (Pennsylvania) are reaching out to me,” he said. “Everyday I’ve been getting calls from people interested in the wood. Hopefully we can fulfill everyone’s needs.”

Earlier this month, Stone announced during a special meeting of the Jamestown Parks, Recreation & Conservation Commission the decision to cut down the 43 oak trees, most of them more than 100 years old. He said during the wind storm Nov. 15, two oak trees, with some of them as tall as 150 to 200 feet tall, were blown down, with one landing on a residential garage. In October 2019, a large oak toppled down, with portions of the tree landing on a residential house.

Stone said in the spring city officials will look to replant trees along West Third Street so a new “tree canopy” can be created.

He said the new trees will have a maximum height of around 50 to 55 feet, which will be smaller than the current oaks. He added that the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, which annually makes a donation for new trees in the urban forest, will provide money to purchase new trees that will be planted along West Third Street.

Stone said some of the new trees that might be planted include American elms, tulip and ginkgo. He is also looking into purchasing some items that will help manage how the roots grow along the terrace. He added at the beginning of next year he will talk to officials from local tree nurseries about what types of trees are available.

A BUMP IN THE ROAD TO COURT

Cashless bail got off to a rocky start in Jamestown this year. As part of the new criminal justice reforms passed in 2019 by the state Legislature, cash bail was eliminated for most misdemeanor and nonviolent felony offenses, which includes stalking, assault without serious injury, burglary, many drug offenses, and some kinds of arson and robbery. Cashless bail has led to the police department issuing an appearance ticket to people being charged instead of them being taken into custody.

Police officers have to now ask those being charged how they would like to be contacted by the court if they don’t appear. He said the court has to wait 48 hours before they can issue a warrant for someone following a no-show appearance. The department had also fallen behind on recording evidence because of the new criminal justice reforms laws. The state’s discovery laws required all evidence to be submitted to the court within 15 days. To adjust to the impact of the new quicker discovery rules, the city’s police department started implementing new procedures at the beginning of December 2019, but fell behind with physical evidence collected because of the attention needed on digital evidence.

It didn’t take long for the state Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to get the message from local prosecutors and police departments that some changes needed to be made.

The most significant change is that there are more situations where judges can impose cash bail, including second-degree burglary where an individual is charged with entering the living area of a home, certain sex trafficking offenses, promoting an obscene sexual performance of a child, some crimes involving assault, including vehicular assault, and all charges alleged to have caused the death of a person. Judges also were given more discretion in setting bail and other conditions of pretrial release.

Discovery laws were also changed, giving prosecutors between 20 and 35 days to comply rather than the original 15 day timeline.

On the Senate floor, Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, said the changes don’t go far enough.

“You cut open a gushing wound in our judicial system that has impacted victims of crime and the people on the front lines of law enforcement,” Borrello said. “And you’ve handed them a Band-Aid now to try and fix it. It’s simply not enough.”

WATER CHESTNUT RETURNS

Late August brought news that the European water chestnut had returned to area waterways.

Water chestnut is an aggressive aquatic invasive species that, if left unchecked, could negatively impact the health and usability of Chautauqua Lake by forming large, impenetrable mats of fast-growing plants that alter water chemistry and clarity, impair native species growth and hinder boating, fishing and swimming. The plant can be identified by its small triangularly shaped leaves, which are between 2 and 4 centimeters wide that form a rosette on the surface of the water. Water chestnut plants form small white flowers in July which persist throughout the summer. Their seeds or nutlets are generally 3 centimeters in length and contain four sharp barbs. These nutlets can be painful to step on and can cling to a variety of animals, including waterfowl, which can spread this species from waterbody to waterbody.

In 2019, Western New York (WNY) Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM), the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History (RTPI), and the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance located and removed 13 water chestnut plants from the Chautauqua Lake outlet. Prior to that, the last reported detection and removal of water chestnut from the outlet was in 2015. Most of these plants were located just downstream of Carlson’s Boat Livery on the descending left bank.

On July 1, the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy logged the first Chautauqua Lake water chestnut detection of the year. Staff from the CWC pulled and removed one Water Chestnut plant from a location near the Lawson Boat and Motor Marina. On July 31 RTPI hosted a Citizen Science Volunteer Field Training event at Lucille Ball Memorial Park. During this event staff from RTPI and the alliance located and removed 10 water chestnut plants from the outlet near the first bend south of Carlson’s Boat Livery. This detection point was in close proximity to prior detection points from 2015 and 2019. Staff from RTPI and CWC performed a follow-up survey on Aug. 7 where they located a large stand of water chestnut plants that contained more than 100 plants. As a result, RTPI hosted a volunteer early detection and rapid response survey on Aug. 13 which launched at the Lucille Ball Memorial Park. Staff from RTPI, CWC, Audubon Community Nature Center, Chautauqua Lake Watershed and Management Alliance, WNY PRISM and Evergreen Outfitters along with members of the public participated in this collaborative unified effort to remove a large stand of this invasive species. The team removed a substantial amount of plants (more than 100), which filled a 5-foot-long bed of a mid-size pickup truck.

Those who live within the Chautauqua Lake watershed and encounter a population of water chestnut are asked to email info@auduboncnc.org with the subject line “WC Rapid Removal Response Request.”

THE GATEWAY LOFTS

Work is expected to proceed on the $31 million Gateway Lofts project in 2021 after years of discussion.

In June, the city Planning Commission approved the site plan for the Gateway Lofts project after more than two years of deliberations. The renovation of the building is estimated to cost $31 million, which will be paid for by a combination of state and federal tax credits that can be sold to investors, along with community investment funds and grants. The Gateway Lofts proposal calls for 110 units, consisting of one, two, three and four bedroom apartments, to be created. Of the 110 apartments created, 56 are reserved for homeless people while the remaining 54 will be leased to low- to moderate-income residents.

A final hurdle before construction could begin was a Brownfield Cleanup Program needs to be implemented to clean up contamination at the site.

According to the fact sheet on the DEC website, the draft remedial work plan consist of excavation of the top two feet and/or to the depth of new development hardscape of impacted soil from the open areas external to the building and dispose material off-site at an approved landfill. Backfilling of the area with two feet of clean fill or hardscape.

The plan also includes the collection of additional subsurface soil samples throughout the project boundaries in order to further delineate the presence of other sources of contamination or underground storage tanks, which includes the excavation and removal of all underground storage tanks found within the site boundaries.

The clean up will include the installation of a sub-slab depressurization system within the building footprint, in order to mitigate vapors potentially entering the building.

There will be the excavation and off-site disposal of an area of polychlorinated biphenyl contamination identified on the property, along the northeast perimeter of the site’s building, where former transformers were located.

The plan includes the mitigation of hazardous materials in building sections, which will be demolished and/or renovated as part of the future development plans. There will also be the removal and proper disposal of any sediment found within the building’s trenches and drains.

‘DEAD AGAINST IT’

Downtown parking is likely to be another topic for discussion in the coming year.

City officials’ proposed changes to downtown parking were met with disdain in October this year.

“I think it’s crazy,” said Tom Constantine, The Cherry Lounge owner, about the proposed changes. “Leave them all alone. I like it the way they have it right now. In front of my business, people can park for free for two hours. It’s nice to have that.”

Constantine said he is also against the proposal to double the cost of parking at a meter.

“I’m dead against it,” he said. “I’m not happy about it. It’s hard enough to get people downtown.”

Constantine said the proposed changes would definitely impact his business, located at 326 Cherry St., Jamestown, negatively around lunch time.

“People, who just got an hour (for lunch), like to park for free out front,” he said.

Cliff and Ann Powers, Lander’s Men’s Store owners, said they’ve been against any proposal to eliminate the two-hour free parking spaces downtown, which are located between Washington and Main streets between Second and Fourth streets.

“We’ve been fighting for years over this,” Ann Powers said. “I think if they put in pay spots a lot of businesses will leave. The downtown shoppers will just go someplace else.”

Michael Bigney, Crown Street Roasting Company owner, said the removal of the two-hour free parking spaces and the addition of parking meters would negatively impact his business because people who work downtown would be able to “feed the meter” all day, which would cause there to be fewer parking spaces for his customers.

“We wouldn’t have the turnaround we need to have for downtown businesses to thrive,” he said. “It’s a good thing to have that turnover.”

Bigney said a lot of his business, which is located at 16 W. Third St., Jamestown, is “grab-and-go,” so having the free parking in front of his store is important. He said the way the parking is now is great because people have a chance to go inside his business to eat or have a cup of coffee without worrying about paying a meter. Also, because of the two-hour rule, people aren’t parked in the spaces all day, which makes them available to customers.

The City Council chose not to make changes to parking as part of the 2021 city budget, but it’s likely the discussion will continue this year.

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