A “Complete Streets”-style project for the Water Street crosswalk with West Alley in Fredonia was described by Chautauqua County Legislator Susan Parker and county Planning Coordinator Rebecca Wurster at a recent village Board of Trustees meeting.

Parker began, saying the initiative comes from a safe streets workgroup established by the village two years ago. Parker said Trustees Nicole Siracuse and Paul Wandel are members of the group, along with Department of Public Works Director Scott Marsh and Police Chief David Price. Trustee Michelle Twichell was formerly a member.

Wurster, the former city of Dunkirk planning and development coordinator, described Complete Streets as “designed and operated to enable safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders, of all ages and abilities.” Streets designed with such concepts “include things like sidewalks, lane striping, bike lanes, paved shoulders, signage, crosswalks, bump outs, different things like that.”

She noted Chautauqua County adopted a Complete Streets policy in 2015 and various projects were done across the county in 2018-19, including the revamping of several crosswalks in Dunkirk.

“It’s very specific to county roads, I just want to emphasize that,” Wurster added.

There is a county-level Complete Streets work group that considers projects and “we have a few in the works, but Water Street (near downtown) rose to the top.” This is because the county Department of Public Facilities has a scheduled mill and overlay of the street, it’s near many businesses, it’s highly traveled by pedestrians, and the only crosswalks on the street are there.

Wurster continued that bump outs to extend the sidewalks were originally planned, but planners realized too many parking spaces could be lost, and the bump outs could be a big problem for snowplows. They came up with “painted curbing that would produce the same safety effects but have less hardscape and create (a) unique public art piece.”

Removable bollards would also be included in the arrangement. Only one parking spot would be lost and the width of the road would remain the same.

Wurster said the work groups want the village Board of Trustees’ blessing for the project. If it goes forward, the project could start this summer.

She said the public art element of the project is unclear. “We can get there when we get to that point,” she said.

Rob Clark later had a whimsical suggestion for the art during the public comments portion of the meeting: “Wizards and demons in the crosswalks. I think it would be a lot of fun.”

A Fredonia Planning Board member in the audience said this was the first he had heard of the project and wanted more information on it. Mayor Michael Ferguson offered to give him that.

“This was brought to the village several months ago and it has been worked on and discussed at village board meetings,” Parker said. “Every step of the way it has been very planning oriented … we have the county planners, it has also been blessed by DPW and the chief of police.”

Trustee Jon Espersen later read a statement from Marsh supporting the project.