Fredonia officials got an update on various projects from the village’s grant writer Monday.

Travis Gordon, a consultant, told the Board of Trustees meeting last week that the downtown streetscape project ought to be ending soon.

“It’s looking like the state has reviewed the drawings and everything that’s needed for the finalization of that project,” Gordon said. “It seems like the second part of it could be completed. I know there’s been a bit of a delay on that with the SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review) and things like that… but that’s looking like we’re getting past that at this point. I believe Scott Marsh and DPW is going to be kind of leading the construction administration in that to some degree, or at least lending a hand on that to finish up that project.”

Gordon mainly wanted to discuss future projects, however.

“We’ve been kind of working behind the scenes with the engineer that’s on retainer with the village, Patriot Engineering, and a few other folks and tried to determine what types of projects are priorities for the village,” he said. “Of course, we’ve been speaking to trustees.”

According to Gordon, Patriot put out a draft report last month that indicated the top priority projects for Fredonia. The engineers consulted with village department heads for the report.

“Those projects were from the water treatment plant, the DPW and the wastewater treatment plant. They included things like the slope, the spillway, the dam, backwash pumps, things like that,” he said. “Some of the infrastructure within the village and also some of the infrastructure at the water treatment plant… They put together a pretty good list of the needs there, and we started kind of using that and working with them to kind of map that with various funding sources.”

Gordon was optimistic that some of the projects, such as the dam, will get funding because they are high-hazard, high-priority issues. He discussed specific state and federal funding sources, and the time frames and requirements on applying for them.

“We’re working under the assumption at this point that there will be funding,” he said. “We’re not exactly sure how much funding will be available for those projects in the year 2022, but we’re using the project manual from the previous year to identify state consolidated funding sources and kind of working to get some applications prepared for when the 2022 grant application list is released, which should be imminent… in mid-May.”

Gordon said the village will resubmit a Community Development Block Grant application, denied in 2021, for water main, sidewalk and drainage work on Matteson and Chestnut streets. It will include a beefed-up engineering assessment to make the application more competitive, as suggested by Patriot Engineering.

Parks and recreation department projects could include work at Russell Joy Park but that would need to be fleshed out, Gordon continued.

Mayor Douglas Essek pointed out that efforts there should be coordinated with the town of Pomfret, which co-owns the park. Gordon agreed.

The grant consultant then asked trustees about projects they wanted funding for. Jon Espersen mentioned new chairs at the Fredonia Opera House. “Certainly that’s on our radar, yeah,” Gordon replied.

Trustee David Bird inquired about funding for repairs at the Barker Library and Museum, and Essek wanted to know about grants for a second waterline interconnection with the city of Dunkirk. Gordon promised to investigate those issues, too.

Completing his presentation, Gordon mentioned traffic calming measures on Route 20, also known as Main Street, as part of a Complete Streets initiative. He said “several trustees” were working with him on the project.

“As you may know, DOT is looking to potentially make some major changes to Route 20. It’s on their schedule for several years from now,” he said. “We’ve been asked to put together a letter kind of highlighting why the state should prioritize some of the changes and traffic calming measures that we recommend in the village.

“So, we’re compiling a letter kind of asking for the moon. Really asking for a lot of traffic calming measures that the state has the ability to make changes to on Route 20, like changing the speed limit at bare minimum, but also things like adding center medians and other traffic calming measures that would increase safety and also increase Fredonia’s visibility… slowing cars for people to be able to notice that there is a beautiful community.”