From left, Lakewood Village Trustee Ben Troche, Mayor Randy Holcomb, and Trustee Ellen Barnes conduct business at Monday’s meeting. P-J photo

LAKEWOOD – As the sidewalk talk continues, Lakewood Trustees are looking for grant money to help defray costs of a potential sidewalk project.

At Monday’s Board of Trustees meeting, village resident Mike Looker again wanted to discuss a request for sidewalk construction on East Terrace Avenue.

“I’m going to ask again, another request for the sidewalk on East Terrace Street. This is the fifth month since I started asking for this. It’s the fourth time I’ve come in as an initial request, twice in person, twice in writing, and yet I have still not had any discussion or any feedback from any of the board members,” Looker said.

Mayor Randy Holcomb said that he had addressed Looker when Looker was at a previous meeting.

“We had feedback with you when you were here (last),” Holcomb noted. “We said we (board members) are very interested, but it doesn’t happen in a few months. We are looking for funding to do such a project and that is done over a period of time – maybe years.”

Looker said when he attended last, about four weeks ago, he asked if the board could take a quick vote. Holcomb, at the time, said the board would not vote on the matter, but the board would further discuss it.

Looker said he has not received any more information regarding the potential sidewalk project.

Trustee Ben Troche noted that the board is still in discussions about the project and the board is in the midst of preparing next year’s village spending plan.

Trustee Ellen Barnes said the village is looking for grants.

Trustee John Shedd echoed Barnes’s statement.

“This is a long process,” Shedd added.

In a related matter, in December 2024, trustees heard an update about the proposed Route 394 (Fairmount Avenue) Sidewalk Extension Project.

In October 2024, trustees approved a resolution denouncing the design that was presented in September 2024 at an informal meeting at the Busti Town Hall, 125 Chautauqua Ave., to hear about preliminary concepts that are being explored by the state Department of Transportation.

Holcomb said he had spoken with the DOT, in 2024, and it is pulling back the scope of the sidewalk work. Holcomb said the details of the new scope are still being worked out by the DOT, and a third public informational meeting may be held. Also, Holcomb noted, is that the sidewalk will be held to one side of the road.

In other business:

– Trustees were told that state municipalities will be required to switch to a .gov extension for websites. Currently some municipalities have .com and .org extensions. Municipalities have until December to make the switch.

– The board approved lake access rights of way for Sherri Grasak of 159 E. Terrace Ave., John Johnson of 178 Front St., Eric Steinbrenner of 5 Pleasantview Ave., and Renee Czarniak of 205 W. Summit St.

– Trustees approved a license agreement with Chautauqua Lake Community Sailing Foundation.