UB urban planning students tour area for project
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A group of University at Buffalo urban planning students were in Dunkirk and Fredonia last month to have a look around.
The city of Dunkirk and Chautauqua County Planning Department hosted about two dozen students in their last semester of UB's masters degree program in urban planning and design. They assembled at the SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator and took a CARTS bus to look around Dunkirk and Fredonia for about 90 minutes.
The point was "to tour sites in Dunkirk and Fredonia that will inspire them to write a white paper final project on an area of planning that is of interest to them," said Vince DeJoy, Dunkirk's director of planning and development.
The students toured 18 sites in Dunkirk and Fredonia. These included the Clarion Hotel, Lakefront Boulevard, Wright Park, Lake Shore Drive and its new "Complete Streets" project, the pier, the ImmunityBio plant, the NRG power plant site and Point Gratiot in Dunkirk.
Over in Fredonia, they saw Main Street and the SUNY campus. The tour also took a look at Central Avenue, shared by Dunkirk and Fredonia.
Dr. Daniel Hess is professor of the class.
"Students were impressed by the expanse of lakefront property in the city of Dunkirk and the opportunities it affords," he said. "The students were also intrigued by the former NRG structure and property and redevelopment possibilities. The solid housing stock throughout the city of Dunkirk is an asset."
Hess said DeJoy told his class "that the employment outlook is relatively high in Chautauqua, with jobs that could draw new residents. The students will build on these and other assets in Dunkirk-Fredonia as they generate projects to create finer neighborhoods and more stronger communities."
DeJoy said Fredonia Mayor Douglas Essek spoke to Hess and his students during their visit about priorities for development, including village infrastructure.
DeJoy and Chautauqua County planners Rebecca Wurster and Nate Aldrich gave a talk to the class at UB a couple weeks ago. They "spent nearly two hours talking about all of the planning and projects that are in the pipeline for Dunkirk, to give (the students) a sense and feel for our priorities as a city and county when it comes to planning and economic and community development," DeJoy said.
The event was "so exhilarating because the students listened carefully to our presentations and then asked very good questions that demonstrated they had done some initial research on Dunkirk and Fredonia," he added. "I will eagerly await to read their papers at the end of the semester. I am confident that they will provide a fresh perspective on Dunkirk that will be useful for all of the planning and executing of redevelopment that is happening in real time."