A grant request for remediation work to the Hotel Jamestown and two Board of Public Utilities projects were approved during a brief special voting session of the Jamestown City Council.

The first action taken up Monday was council’s approval and endorsement for a $500,000 New York Main Street Program Downtown Stabilization grant program request to help the Jamestown Housing Authority. If received, the funding will help the authority with environmental remediation to “stabilize the Hotel Jamestown to remove obstacles to future development.”

The Housing Authority is located within the Hotel Jamestown building at 110 W. Third St. in Jamestown. The authority needed council approval to submit its application.

Andrew Faulkner, R-Ward VI, was the only City Council member to vote against the resolution.

Council members then approved an application by the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency to apply for Brownfield Application Opportunity Area grants for predevelopment activities and assessments of city brownfield areas.

The city has two state-designated Brownfield opportunity areas that meet grant funding criteria for the program.

Crystal Surdyk, city director of development, said the grant will go toward Phase 1 of environmental assessments with another grant the city will apply for — from the Environmental Protection Agency — going toward Phase 2 “and other types of environmental assessments.”

Faulkner asked if there was any cost to the city associated with the grant, to which Surdyk said no. She said matching funds will come from the Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corp.

Council members next approved a Consolidated Funding Application request for $100,000 to study sanitary sewer inflow and infiltration in the Hallock/Ellis/Widrig sewer shed area. The grant, if received, comes with a 20% local match to be provided by the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities.

“Excessive amounts of (inflow and infiltration) can cause sewer collection and treatment capacity issues, result in sewer overflows, and negatively impact nearby water quality,” the staff report states.

The BPU has identified the area as one that can be significantly impacted by inflow and infiltration of groundwater or stormwater into the sanitary sewer system and is asking for grant funding to develop a rehabilitation program to decrease problems. The study will include manhole inspections, GPS mapping, flow monitoring, sewer televising, smoke testing and other field investigations.

The council also approved two actions for a $7.1 million tertiary filters improvement project at the city wasterwater treatment plant. The BPU is recommending the project.

Jamestown is seeking a grant through the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Water Quality Improvements Project program. Funds come with a $1,775,000 maximum local match, and the city could also be forced to take out a bond to pay for project costs not covered by the state and the local match.

“The existing tertiary filtration system at the wastewater treatment plant has reached the end of its useful design life,” states a staff memorandum about the project included in the meeting agenda. “The City of Jamestown would use the WQIP grant funding to rehabilitate, replace or reconstruct the filtration system as per the alternatives that have been evaluated and recommended.”

Council members also approved a resolution declaring the proposed action as a Type 2 action that comes with no significant adverse negative impact to the environment under the state Environmental Quality Review Act.