EJ Hayes, deputy director of planning and development for the city, gave a presentation about the project at a meeting of the Common Council’s Finance Committee.

Hayes repeatedly stated the project is not a “done deal,” nor anywhere close — in fact, city planners want to work with local veterans on it.

However, he mentioned one intriguing possibility: City planners are in talks with SUNY Fredonia to return the King Neptune statue and fountain that was in Washington Park many years ago, and put it in a welcome center next to the stage.

Hayes said there have been “preliminary discussions, but they’re positive… we have some cool ideas on how we might pull this off.”

EJ Hayes, the city of Dunkirk’s deputy director of planning and development, gives a presentation about a plan for improvements to Memorial Park, Tuesday at a meeting of the Common Council’s Economic Development Committee.

Hayes also said there are plans for a walkway or “Wall of Heroes” that will allow residents to honor loved ones on individual bricks.

He showed a proposed site plan for the welcome center and stage. It would add restrooms to a park that currently relies on portable toilets for events. There would be a storage space, a “green room” for performers, a concessions area, and a small office. Neptune would have its own area for display.

Hayes emphasized that “nothing is set in stone or designed. This is just to get creative juices flowing.”

He acknowledged criticism at a recent Common Council meeting from Disabled American Veterans members about putting the center/stage in a park honoring people killed for their country.

“I don’t feel it was fair they went after the mayor (Kate Wdowiasz) or (Planning Director) Vince (DeJoy),” Hayes said. “This is not something we put out there and forced on the community.”

He said of veterans, “We want them involved in this project. We truly do.”

Hayes stated there are at least 15 similar projects in veterans memorial parks across the United States. They were “specifically done in honor of the veterans, and in collaboration with them,” he said.

Hayes passed around a November 2023 letter from the Dunkirk Joint Veterans Council stating that the project “would have no adverse effects on the veterans monuments in Memorial Park.” He also showed a supportive letter from city Historian Diane Andrasik.

“Memorial Park is not a cemetery. It is not a battleground. It is therefore not deemed officially to be sacred ground,” Andrasik wrote. “To claim it as such would lessen the status of true battlegrounds and cemeteries.”

The center and stage would be at the east end of the park, at a distance from the memorials, Hayes said. He noted that the current portable stage used for events in the park is actually set up closer to the memorials than the permanent stage would be.

The permanent stage would save the city money because it would no longer need to rent a portable stage, he also noted.

A $1.6 million state grant – separate from the Downtown Revitalization Initiative – is funding the project. Hayes said that the project will cost Dunkirk nothing in the end.

“It would be the appropriate size and scale in reference to the park – and our budget,” he said.

Councilwoman Nancy Nichols suggested a public forum about the project at the nearby SUNY Fredonia Incubator, “so that everybody has some input.”