Standing, Tom Benson, YMCA new facility project manager, giving a presentation on the proposed new Jamestown Area YMCA during the Jamestown City Council work session meeting Monday. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

The proposed new Jamestown Area YMCA is the only viable option going forward for the organization.

On Monday, Tom Benson, YMCA new facility project manager, gave a virtual tour of the proposed new YMCA that will be constructed along Harrison Street. He said the 68,000-square-foot, two-story facility will include two pools, a basketball court, track, daycare center, playground, locker rooms, a fitness area and a studio for activities like yoga.

Benson said there is a sense of urgency to raise the funds necessary for the proposed $31 million facility. He said the current YMCA, located at 101 E. Fourth St., is no longer a feasible facility that is more than 100 years old and will no longer be available within two to three years.

“The existing Y is not sustainable,” he said.

Benson said the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency basically gave the shovel-ready site for the new facility to the YMCA. He said YMCA officials are hoping to raise $5 million from local foundations, receive grants and Brownfield and New Market tax credits to fund the new facility. He added that stakeholders locally, like the city government, need to show a significant investment in the new facility or outside agencies won’t fund the project. He asked city officials to provide $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for the new YMCA.

Benson said Y officials are working with the Winifred Crawford Dibert Boys & Girls Club of Jamestown and have formed a new partnership with the Buffalo YMCA. He said once the new YMCA is constructed, the Lakewood YMCA and Eastside Family YMCA will no longer be used for Y activities. He said the Lakewood facility would be rented to people who want to play tennis or pickleball and the Eastside Y will be used as a full-time kitchen for making lunches for children.

Benson said Y officials would like to have the funds raised by the fall of 2023 and would like to either open in the Winter of 2024 or the spring of 2025.

In other business:

¯ Linnea Carlson, Jamestown Public Market director, presented an 18-month plan to the council about finding out what Jamestown wants as far as food. She said the plan is to try and prevent food shortage gaps that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. She added that to prepare the plan the public market needs $145,000, which they would like to be provided by the city via ARPA money.

Carlson also discussed how public market officials would like to open a Jamestown kitchen in the next two to three years. She said the Jamestown kitchen would teach people about food and how to cook, which could also be used for workforce development.

¯ Zach Altschuler, executive assistant to the mayor, presented to the council two new ARPA housing programs. He said the one program would be a Senior Citizen Home Improvement Incentive Program for people who own their own home. He added the program would provide up to a $10,000 rebate for improvements.

The second program would be a Residential Home Improvement Incentive Program. Altschuler said the program would be for homeowners and landlords with a property that contains three or fewer units. Depending how much is invested in improvements would determine the rebate. For example, improvements of $5,000 to $9,999 would receive a $500 rebate.

The council then debated if the program should only be open to owner-occupied landlords or if a larger amount of the available money would be provided to local landlords.

Altschuler said city officials believe both of these programs could be implemented fairly quickly. Also, city officials have suggested that each program receive $500,000 in ARPA funds.