By Barb Arnstein
The village of Ellicottville now has high hopes of bringing exciting new developments to the area. Its expectations center around recent efforts to secure grants that would revitalize certain places. One of the grants for which it has applied is offered by a program called “Restore New York”, and it is primarily for restoring buildings owned by communities that need to be restored. The other is offered by “New York Forward”, part of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI), started under Governor Cuomo.
The announcement regarding whether or not the grants will be awarded to Ellicottville is not expected to be made until December, but there is a possibility this could happen sooner.
To give the grant applications every possible chance of succeeding, the Mayor of Ellicottville, John Burrell; a Village Trustee, Caitlin Croft; and Peter Krog, the owner of the 1887 Building in Ellicottville and properties on which worker housing would be built if grant money is made available, recently made a presentation to members of the Regional Economic Council, featuring video, slides and narration. The informative presentation was backed by the extensive efforts of a well-respected consulting firm, Barton & Loguidice, which specializes in engineering, planning, environmental matters, etc., with which the Village Board of Trustees met.
housing would involve three buildings: the 1887
building (pictiured) and additional over by the newly
planned parking lot between Rockwell Avenue and
Martha Street, with apartments in each one.
“When they met with us, they steered us through the process”, said Mayor Burrell. “We had Zoom meetings, they wrote the application, they used aerial drone photography, and they did much more. We feel that we have very strong applications and that we were helped tremendously by our consultants. We’re very optimistic.” The other members of the Village Board of Trustees are the Deputy Mayor, Doug Bush, Village Trustee, Sean Lowes, and the newest Village Trustee, Jolie Newpher.
Restoring 1887 Building for Resident Housing
The first of the three plans to use the possible grant money involves restoring the historic 1887 building in Ellicottville, which derives its name from the fact that it was built in 1887. In 1887 it was a school, and continued to be one for many years, until all the classes conducted in it were moved to the current campus south of the village. After that, it became the setting for a number of professional offices, but at this point in time it has been empty for the last ten years. “It needs to have people and life in it again”, said Mayor Burrell.
Developers have tried to create condominiums and various types of apartments there, but there were various obstacles hindering such plans, including the necessity to first have asbestos hazards removed. What grant monies would accomplish in regard to this building is that they would fund the creation of housing for residents to live full-time in Ellicottville, as opposed to part-time. At this time, it is much more common for residents of the village to only be residents there part of the time. In fact, the owners of many homes in Ellicottville mostly live in places as diverse as Toronto, Cleveland, Buffalo and elsewhere. In 1950, the local census record stated that there were 1200 full-time residents in Ellicottville, while in the present day, there are only 256 full-time residents!
“This makes it difficult to have enough people on the local community boards to handle services involving ambulances, the fire department and churches”, said Mayor Burrell. “If we’re awarded the grants, the new worker housing would involve three buildings (additional over by the newly planned parking lot between Rockwell Avenue and Martha Street) with four apartments in each one.”
Street Improvements
In regard to the second of the possible plans, Mayor Burrell commented. “We included in the applications for grant money ideas regarding the improvement of lighting on Washington Street, Monroe Street, etc. We need to redo the street lights in the downtown area. Smart lighting, WiFi, cameras and music would all be a part of the picture. At this time, music is played in downtown Ellicottville from speakers mounted on storefronts, and in the future, it could emanate from smart poles”.
120-Car Public Parking
The third possibility spelled out in the improvements outlined in the applications is the creation of a 120-car public parking lot in Ellicottville. The area involved would be in the vicinity of Martha Street, Mill Street and Rockwell Avenue. “If you’ve ever tried parking in Ellicottville, you know how helpful this would be,” said Mayor Burrell.
John closed with, “The whole goal of this project is to make it more accessible for our local population to not just work but to also live in our beautiful town.”