OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford
Dunkirk Mayor Kate Wdowiasz takes the podium Wednesday to offer a welcome for a zoning review kickoff meeting. Standing to her left is Molly Gaudioso, project manager for Colliers, the consulting firm assisting the city with the review
The city of Dunkirk rolled out a rezoning effort last week with a public meeting.
Consultants from Colliers, the engineering and design firm assisting the city with the zoning code review, ran the meeting at the SUNY Fredonia Incubator.
“It’s been years in the making,” said city Planning Director Vince DeJoy. “We’re trying to bring Dunkirk’s zoning code into this century. It was last adopted in the last century.”
DeJoy admitted that zoning is “not always really sexy or exciting to talk about – but it’s entirely necessary and will guide our future.”
After Mayor Kate Wdowiasz gave a brief greeting, Colliers project manager Molly Gaudioso offered some remarks. She first touched on why City Hall wants a zoning update, showing a list of reasons.
These included adaptation to new technologies, response to changing markets, updating obsolete regulations, removal of regulatory barriers, improving administrative efficiency, and addressing quality of life issues.
Gaudioso called zoning “one piece of a puzzle including a comprehensive plan and capital improvement programs.”
She added, “We’re not here to start over, we’re not here to throw everything out the window. We want to hear what’s working… and fix the rest.”
To that end, Gaudioso repeatedly emphasized that Colliers wants feedback from city residents and stakeholders. She noted a survey is now on the city of Dunkirk’s website.
There will also be more public meetings, at dates and places to be announced. Wednesday’s meeting closed with the approximately 30 attendees breaking into small groups to discuss city zoning issues.
Gaudioso commented on the city’s code, “Currently, I think there are some regulations that are preventing development opportunities.” However, the city should want to achieve “a development character that stands the test of time.”
She said there are issues with nonconformity and conflicting application of districts. For example, the downtown business district and the D&F Plaza on Central Avenue are both in a C-2 district. Showing photos of each, Gaudioso said, “I would say, looking at these images, they are pretty different in character.”