Pictured are Sean Hopkins and Tom Fox with Ellicott Development at the Chautauqua Town Board meeting. Photo by Gregory Bacon

DEWITTVILLE – The proposed development at a former golf course has yet to be approved, but can include a restaurant.

During the August Chautauqua Town Board meeting, board members updated its zoning code to allow for commercial business in a mixed-use building inside a Planned Unit Development. The proposed Sunset View development at the former Point Chautauqua Golf Course is classified as a PUD.

Ellicott Development, the developers of the project, desire to have a commercial business in Sunset View.

The plans call for a three-story mixed-use building of about 14,400 square feet of commercial and community space. The building would have 24 residential units on upper floors.

Officials with Ellicott Development said the commercial space would be for a restaurant or tap house, but said they do not have anyone under contract yet to run it. It would be open to the public.

During Wednesday’s meeting, attorney Sean Hopkins with Ellicott Development, noted the change in the zoning only affects less than 1% of the entire project.

“Is it important to us? Yes, but it is not basically dominating the uses within the PUD,” he said.

Hopkins added that if the town board rejected the zoning change, Ellicott Development would still move forward with the entire project, minus the restaurant/tap house.

Town Supervisor Don Emhardt noted this zoning change will only apply for commercial businesses inside a Planned Unit Development, which is very rare.

“This is our third PUD since 1980, so it’s not something that comes up all the time to the town board. Matter of fact, I’ve been here 20 years, and I’ve never seen one (new PUD) until now,” he said.

All town board members voted in favor of the zoning change.

The town’s Planning/Zoning Board of Appeals has been waiting to see if the town board was going to permit the zoning change regarding commercial space in the development before it votes on the entire project.

With this change, the planning/zoning board will meet on Tuesday at 3:50 p.m. where it could give a final recommendation to approve or disapprove the project.

In the end the project will return to the full town board for final approval. The town has scheduled a public hearing on the entire project at its next meeting Oct. 8.

The entire Sunset View development is expected to cost about $70 million and includes townhouses, condominium living space, and single family homes.

The project has been under review since August, 2024.

Some of the neighboring housing developments, including Chautauqua Lake Estates, the Villas at Chautauqua Point, and Point Chautauqua Neighborhood have had residents attend town board meetings, expressing their concerns about the project including its size, viability, density, additional traffic, and impact on Chautauqua Lake.

Ellicott Development officials said they have met with various groups and are willing to meet again to go over residents’ concerns.