Paving funds moved from South Union to State Street

By RICK MILLER

Olean Star

OLEAN — Last fall, New York State agreed to mill and pave South Union Street — the Walkable Olean 4 project after city officials appealed to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office.

On Tuesday night, the Olean Common Council voted to authorize Mayor Bill Aiello to execute a change order with contractor Millennium Construction to remove the milling and paving from its $3 million contract with the city.

The change order decreases the scope of the project and saves the city $174,635 by removing milling and paving from the project.

The aldermen then voted to apply the savings to a second Millennium change order involving milling and paving the Walkable Olean 3 project on East State Street.

Millennium officials suggested using the savings from not milling and paving South Union Street to mill and pave Walkable Olean 3. Those funds had been stripped out of the East State Street project.

Cost of the mill and pave project for the East State Street project is $175,765, which aldermen approved. It is not clear whether some Walkable Olean 4 landscaping will be added back into the project, which was discussed.

Aldermen failed to approve another resolution that would have scheduled a public hearing on a proposal to give the city the power of eminent domain — if necessary — in a reported dispute between the owner of the former Olean Center Mall and its two anchor tenants.

The city was seeking site interest rights on behalf of Spot on Development, LLC, owner of Olean Town Centre, from JC Penny and Kohl’s, the mall’s anchor tenants.

Alderman David Anastasia, D-Ward 7, suggested the city was going down the wrong path and should let the Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency resolve the contractual dispute.

“I don’t think the city should get involved,” Anastasia added. The result of either store leaving the city would be catastrophic from a sales tax point of view.

The council deadlocked 3-3 on the resolution, with Lawrence Bennion, R-Ward 1; Sonya McCall, D-Ward 4, and Anastasia voting against it and Jennifer Forney, R-Ward 3; Vernon Robinson Jr., I-Ward 6 and Council President John Crawford, D-Ward 5 voting in favor. Alderman Jason Panus, R-Ward 2, was absent.

The resolution stated that the site interest rights “interfere with the company’s ability to redevelop the mall facility including but not limited to the productive reuse and redevelopment of such predominantly vacant and underutilized Mall Facility into a mixed-use development consisting of commercial uses and residential dwellings.”

(Rick Miller/Olean Star) The Olean Common Council approved transferring funds for milling and paving the Walkable Olean 4 project on South Union Street (above), which the state has agreed to repave, to Walkable Olean 3 on East State Street.

IN OTHER ACTION, the council:

Established a no parking zone for the west side of York Street.
Set a no parking zone along the 200 block of Twelfth Street Monday through Friday except for holidays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Asked the sewer and water superintendent to keep sewer repairs updated on the city website.
Voted 4-2 to add a component to the city’s IWorQ computer software in order to better track how complaints are addressed. Aldermen will have access to the component. Bannion and Anastasia voted no.
The council adjourned in memory of Don Schula, the longtime St. Bonaventure basketball broadcast analyst who died Jan. 28.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, a North Seventh Street resident complained about snow and ice-covered sidewalk between her home being to blame for an injury suffered by her son. She also complained about an alleged police incident at her home.
Also during the public comment, environmental activist Glenn Wahl of Little Valley warned the council that with upcoming spring snowmelt and rain, the city is likely to experience another sewage overflow into the Allegheny River. “I urge you to take action. You increase the city’s liability exposure.”

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