The Gateway Center is the proposed site for a new housing project known as the Gateway Lofts. Currently, the public comment period is open for the proposed apartment project because the developers have applied to be in the Brownfield Cleanup Program. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

The public comment period is now open for the proposed apartment project at the Gateway Center in Jamestown.

Southern Tier Environments for Living received two grant awards totaling $790,000 in October for the Gateway Lofts project and the Dunkirk Renovation and Ownership program. The state grant for the Gateway Lofts project was for $620,000.

Thomas J. Whitney, Southern Tier Environments for Living executive director, said because the project is still in the design phase it is unknown how many apartments will be constructed and how much the total project will cost. He said they will be applying for additional funding for the project through the state Homes and Community Renewal Agency, but it is undetermined how much funding they will be applying for. The housing project will be inside the Gateway Center, located at 31 Water St.

Whitney said community partners involved in the project includes Community Helping Hands, who already is located inside the Gateway Center, and the YWCA. He said there will be 16 apartments at the Gateway Lofts reserved for single parents who are receiving support services through the YWCA. He added that the other apartment units are intended for low-to-moderate income people residing in Jamestown.

“A lot of folks located there (Gateway Center) are not-for-profits like St. Susan and the Mental Health Association, and with (UPMC Chautauqua WCA) hospital nearby, it is a good location for those who need support services,” he said. “There is a good confluence of nonprofits there to help people.”

The public comment period for the project is taking place because the state Department of Environmental Conservation received a Brownfield Cleanup Program application from CHH Development Inc. for the Gateway Lofts project. A copy of the application and other relevant documents are available at the document repository located at James Prendergast Library, 509 Cherry St.

There are several ways to comment on the application, one way is to submitted a comment to the site project manager Maurice Moore at NYSDEC, 270 Michigan Ave., Buffalo, NY 14203, via email at maurice.moore@dec.ny.gov or by calling 716-851-7220. All comments must be submitted by April 27.

New York’s Brownfield Cleanup Program is designed is to encourage private-sector cleanups of brownfields and to promote their redevelopment as a means to revitalize economically blighted communities. The program is an alternative to “greenfield” — land not previously developed or contaminated — development and is intended to remove some of the barriers to, and provide tax incentives for, the redevelopment of brownfields. Since its inception in 2003, the program has catalyzed the cleanup of more than 300 contaminated sites statewide and incentivized redevelopment. There are more than 350 active sites in the program.