OBSERVER Photo by Jo Ward Matthew Rogers, senior planner from Laberge Group, gives a presentation Wednesday summarizing all that his team have heard from various residents in the city during the development of Dunkirk’s updated comprehensive plan.

A casino at the old NRG Power Plant? How about an indoor water park instead? Why not a shopping and arts center moving into the current Brooks Memorial Hospital location? These were all ideas shared on colorful sticky notes at the city of Dunkirk Comprehensive Plan Vision Workshops that were held on Monday and Wednesday at Dunkirk High School.

The Laberge Group, an engineering and architectural firm out of Albany was on hand to help residents and explain developments they are helping to create with their visions. According to a presentation given by Matthew Rogers, senior planner from Leberge, current comprehensive plan is 41 years old, much older than the normal 5-10 year shelf life of other communities. A comprehensive plan is basically a broad document that lays out a long range plan that guides the city’s future growth and economic development which is centered around public input.

Throughout the presentation that was held following the two days of public discussion, Rogers shared what the group discovered after speaking to citizens.

“The strengths we’ve been able to identify is that the architecture and the walkability of the city is unmatched,” Rogers said. “Obviously you’ve lost a lot of historically significant buildings, which happens in every community, but you still have a lot left that are not beyond repair. You’re a manufacturing hub, yes, the number of jobs associated with that has been on a downward trend, but that’s not anything different from other communities, but you have a solid manufacturing base and that’s something a lot of communities can’t say they have.”

He went on to talk about issues that need addressing including road and sidewalk maintenance (which he said was an issue everywhere), lack of access to quality housing, declining population, vacant store fronts, low annual median income and limited child care opportunities.

Rogers then set some goals that the city can accomplish which will help in repairing some of these problems. These included increased opportunities for quality affordable housing; senior housing as no independent facilities exist in the city; partnering with landlords of vacant businesses to do such things as pop-up storefronts (short term lease businesses); and artist space and partnerships with the Fredonia Technology Incubator to bring businesses out of it and into the community. Dunkirk’s biggest goal, however, is attracting new investments in things such as entertainment and commercial opportunities.

Several ideas were offered up by Rogers that his group believes can help the city in getting on track. These include housing and neighborhood stability; increased code enforcement; a rental registration law which would help the city in knowing who’s renting what and where, how many units and contact information; regularly scheduled clean-up days; repurposing vacant and abandoned buildings; and updating zoning laws.

“Focusing on manufacturing, the food industry, tourism, hospitality, research, technology and pharmaceuticals, the city is now starting to get its legs on where its focus will be,” Rogers said. “Previously it’s been manufacturing steel, now with Athenex coming in, you have a good focus.”

Ron Hall, a city resident, asked the mayor what was being done with Central Avenue, a situation many citizens have been asking about.

“The focus of the development team this year is our business district,” Mayor Wilfred Rosas stated. “Which include Central Avenue, Fourth Street and parts of Main Street and Lakeshore Drive.”

The mayor then talked of how some of the property owners in these districts are sitting on properties, waiting for a large buyout.

“We’re going to reach out to them and Albany to try and offer some financial incentive to either repurpose their sites and develop and invest some money of their own, or to sell to somebody who does want to come in and take advantage of the incentives,” he said.

If anyone wishes to add their ideas, attend any future workshops or review the information that has been given regarding the updated plan, please visit http://labergegroup.com/dunkirk.