Market rate housing, the resurrection of Wing Ding, a craft beer festival and Alzheimer’s awareness walk, the Jackson Square redesign and a public hearing are all on tap for City Council’s conference meeting this week.
And that is to be followed by a special business meeting for several votes and an executive session to discuss “employment matters and real estate.”
The conference meeting is set for 7 p.m. Monday in the Council Board Room, second floor of City Hall.
Assistant City Manager Erik Fix is expected to outline a plan to create single-family homes and market-rate rentals to help supply Genesee County’s future housing needs of more than 4,800 units, according to a memo from Fix to City Council. The demand for housing is anticipated in correlation with the WNY STAMP project in the western part of the county.
“With low vacancy rates and free houses available for sale, if a surge of development attracted employment into the region, workers would need to look outside of the county for housing,” Fix said.
He is proposing that the Batavia Home Fund be established to capitalize Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) payments from project investors and land sales to plump up the fund.
The city will also be exploring a Core Housing Owner Incentive Exemption program based on a similar program in Rochester that provides exemptions for multi-family homes to convert to single-family homes, and for construction of new housing stock, Fix said.
As Genesee County, via a related committee, pursues hosting an air show once again, the city is considering resurrecting the Wing Ding that ran in conjunction with the former Wings of Eagles air show at Genesee County Airport. Fix is also expected to review the potential for a Wing Ding weekend, and transfer a leftover amount of $9,188 from the Centennial Celebration and move it into a Wing Ding account.
Air show committee leader and county highway superintendent Tim Hens has said that several people have asked that the air show be brought back, and many folks have shared fond memories from each event on opposite sides of the county -- at Genesee County Airport on Saile Drive and in downtown Batavia.
After years of committee meetings, investigation and talk about the potential for Creek Park, situated behind the ice arena, city officials are also expected to discuss the option of performing an environmental review for it to house a future business operation.
Eli Fish apparently doesn't want the fun to stop and has applied for a craft beer festival in Jackson Square later next month. That event, and an Alzheimer's awareness walk on Oct. 1 are up for review by council during its conference session.
File photo of a previous air show.
