CITY RIVERFRONT MANAGEMENT COUNCIL
Meeting held Tuesday, June 11, 2019
The meeting of the Riverfront Management Council of the City of Jamestown, New York, was held on Tuesday, June 11, 2019, at 5:30 p.m.
Those present representing the Council were:
John Bauer
Anna Burt
Russ Diethrick
Kimberly Ecklund
Luke Fodor
Grayson Holt
Twan Leenders
Bill Stevenson
Absent Members:
Dave Anderson
Jade Barber
Jennifer Lumia
Aubrey Russell
Vanessa Weinert
Others Present:
Julia Ciesla-Hanley, Recreation Coordinator
Mikayla Certo, Chautauqua County Health Network (CCHN)
Gary Mooney
Eddie Sundquist
The meeting was called to order by Julia Ciesla-Hanley.
Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting
A motion was made by Kim Ecklund seconded by Twan Leenders to approve the minutes of the May 14, 2019 meeting. Carried.
Opportunity For Persons to Address Council
* None
Reports of Committees and Projects
Riverwalk/Parks Commission Update:
* Breakwater Project: Julia said the liner is going on today. Weather permitting, the rubber coating is going down this weekend.
* Twan Leenders will be doing a nature walk through Roger Tory Peterson Institute tomorrow. He’s hoping for a good turn out. He has hired a crew leader for the Project Wild America Ambassador program. Students will be working in the park from here out. They will be trapping turtles tomorrow for research. They also will be looking at the invasive plants in the canals off the river. There are bat/bird houses that will be going up on the bike path. Twan said the micro-plastic project will be starting soon.
* Russ Diethrick asked if there have been problems with people feeding ducks the wrong food. Twan said there was signage suggested by former Audubon Executive Director Ruth Lundin that would help educate about that. He will need to look at that again.
* Twan is still trying to finish mapping the Chadakoin River. He’s about 90% done but the rain is hindering the process. He needs to go back when the water has dropped down again. There are a lot of things people need to consider when bringing in boat traffic into the south basin. He said the Warner Dam can drop the water level quite a bit, making it hard to get in and out of the basin. Bill Stevenson asked about the curve by the Sprague Street Bridge. Twan heard there were storm water management efforts happening there. He said he was on the river when a storm came through and it was scary to see how much water was coming out of the drainage pipes into the river. He said this is why we need swales and other deterrents to clean the water before it gets into the river. There is tremendous damage in erosion and pollutants getting into the water.
* Twan said he talked to Andy Johnson about the BPU restoration project. He said most structures seem ready to go but he needs further approval. Julia said she asked DPW Director Jeff Lehman if he had any updates but he did not.
* Kim Ecklund said City Council approved the new kayak launch for McCrea Point Park. It will be handicapped accessible. It has been ordered and is supposed to be installed in July in the canal next to the Chautauqua Lake Rowing Association. Twan offered to map the depths of that canal.
* Russ asked if work was happening on the river in other communities like what the city was doing. Bill didn’t know but he has seen a lot of kayaks on waterways south of the city.
* Twan brought up the concern that there are no buoys or wires across the river by the Washington Street pedestrian bridge. He said there is a sign on the bridge cautioning people not to go beyond that point, but he’s concerned less experienced boaters could flip their boats and get into trouble. He said there’s not an easy way to get out of the water once you go beyond that bridge. If there is money left over, he said there should be life preservers on the side of the river at the least.
* Bill Stevenson asked if there’s any update on dealing with garbage that collects by the Warner Dam. Julia hadn’t heard anything but she thought the Gebbie Foundation had taken on looking into the project.
Good of the Order
* This was the last meeting for Anna Burt and Grayson Holt as student representatives on the Riverfront Management Council. Anna will be attending Jamestown Community College and expressed an interest on being appointed as a citizen member to the RMC. Grayson will be attending Case Western.
Adjournment
Next meeting is Tuesday, July 9, 2019 on the Bike Path
