By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 February 2019 at 3:16 pm
Two villages in Orleans County will have elections for village trustees on March 19.
Medina has two positions for two years on the ballot. The spots are currently filled by Todd Bensley and Owen Toale. They have both taken out petitions to seek re-election. A village resident 18 and older can submit petitions to run for the board. The petitions need to be signed by at least 100 registered voters in the village.
The petitions are due at the village office by Feb. 13.
Voting for the March 19 election will be from noon to 9 p.m. at the Senior Center, the former railroad depot on West Avenue.
Lyndonville also has two trustee positions for four-year terms on the ballot. The spots are currently filled by Darren Wilson and Mary Kage. They have both taken out petitions to run for the board again.
Candidates need to submit petitions signed by at least 25 registered voters in the village. The petitions are due by Feb. 13.
Voting will be from noon to 9 a.m. on March 19 at the Village Hall on Main Street.
The two other villages in the county don’t have elections this March. Albion is in an off election year and Holley has its elections in June.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 31 January 2019 at 8:19 pm
MEDINA – The Medina school district will be closed on Friday for the third straight day as bitter cold persists.
Mark Kruzynski, the district superintendent, said Medina will close “due to the wind chill advisory and the amount of walkers that we have.”
The forecast calls for the temperature to only be 3 degrees at 8 a.m., 6 degrees at 10 a.m. and 10 degrees at noon.
The All County Festival will go on as scheduled for Saturday at Medina. All students participating will need to report to the high school at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 31 January 2019 at 8:40 am
File photo by Tom Rivers: One of the rooms in the Hart House Hotel includes a picture of Bob Hope, one of the prominent customers of the former Newell company. The room is one of four hotel rooms and two extended stay loft apartments in the former Robert H. Newell Building at 113 West Center St., which for 86 years was home to the Robert H. Newell Shirt Factory. That company manufactured custom-made shirts, including for many famous customers, including Hope and Winston Churchill.
MEDINA – The Village Board has approved a 2 percent occupancy tax and will use the funds to promote economic development and tourism in the village.
Medina needs the State Legislature to approve the new tax, and Assemblyman Michael Norris, R-Lockport, has offered to take the lead in getting the legislation through Albany.
The village’s new 2 percent tax is on top of the 4 percent occupancy tax imposed by the county. The 4 percent occupancy tax generates about $35,000 a year and is used solely by the county for its tourism promotion efforts.
Medina has been looking for ways to boost revenue for the village without relying on property taxes. Mayor Mike Sidari isn’t sure how much the 2 percent tax will generate for the village.
It will be applied to hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts and other lodging establishments within the village.
Medina will see an increase in rooms with the renovation of the Bent’s Opera House to be partly used as a hotel. A new chain hotel, Cobblestone Inn & Suites, also is expected to be built on Maple Ridge Road.
In passing the occupancy tax, the Village Board stated in a resolution there would be the following advantages for Medina:
• Promote economic development throughout the Village of Medina and its historic Business District;
• Increase promotion and use of the Erie Barge Canal for economic growth to locally owned businesses;
• Help promote a stable property tax base.
The board said many events and businesses draw people to the community throughout the year, including the wine and beer tasting events, Thomas the Train at the Medina Railroad Museum, Farm-to-Table dinner, fishing derbies, the Parade of Lights, and the many businesses in a vibrant downtown.
The Village Board wants to help promote those businesses and attractions. It also wants to have more resources to promote economic development at the business parks in Medina.
The village can use the money from the bed tax. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed wiping out the village’s AIM funding of $45,523, which hadn’t been increased in many years. The Aid and Incentives to Municipalities for Medina has been a tiny fraction of what the state gives a city.
Medina also has seen its shares of the local sales tax fall because of a formula tied to assessed value. As the assessed value in Ridgeway and Shelby has increased faster than the rate of growth in the village, the two towns have taken some of the village’s sales tax under the county formula.
The board couldn’t say when it expects the State Legislature will approve the new tax in Medina.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 January 2019 at 4:04 pm
File photo: This picture shows a body camera on an Albion police officer. Albion started using the cameras on Oct. 1, 2016.
MEDINA – The Police Department will be adding body cameras to the 13 members of the department, likely in March, Police Chief Chad Kenward said.
The department has purchased 13 body cameras for about $12,000. State funding from Sen. Robert Ortt and money from a state forfeiture program from a drug arrest in medina are covering 76 percent of the cost, Kenward told the Village Board on Monday.
The remainder of the cost, about $3,000, is from the Police Department budget.
“Each officer has been assigned a body cam and will be wearing it when on duty,” Kenward said today. “We are still in the initial stages of the project. The cameras just came in the other day. We are currently working on installing the software into the system and I am working on the policies and procedures for the camera program for the department.”
Albion started using body cams on officers on Oct. 1, 2016 and the Holley Police Department added four body cameras in October 2017. The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office doesn’t have body cams.
Kenward said the cameras have reduced personnel complaints for other departments, and also provide evidence during an arrest or incident.
Kenward also notified the board a new vehicle for the K9 and Lt. Todd Draper, the dog’s handler, is now in service.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 January 2019 at 6:13 pm
Photo courtesy of Mary Woodruff: The late Willis Burr Woodruff, a former Medina resident, is honored on one of the banners in Alfred in Allegany County.
MEDINA – Portraits of Medina residents who served in the military will be displayed on utility poles in Medina by Memorial Day. The banners of “Hometown Heroes” are expected to be up until past Veterans Day in November.
The Medina Village Board approved the program on Monday. Mary Woodruff, a Ridgeway town councilwoman, is leading the effort. She pushed for it after her late father-in-law Willis Burr Woodruff was featured on a banner in his hometown of Alfred.
That banner was unveiled in the spring through a project that also including neighboring Almond in Allegany County. Woodruff served in World War II. He later ran the local Agway plants in Knowlesville and Batavia.
His daughter-in-law liked the patriotic display and wanted to see a similar effort in Medina. The towns of Ridgeway and Shelby also have endorsed the “Hometown Heroes” with their highway crews offering to help the Medina DPW put up the banners and the hardware to hold them in place.
Woodruff said the first group of 35-50 banners should be up by Memorial Day. The banners have red and blue borders with a portrait of the featured veteran, as well as the vet’s name, time of service, branch of military, and honors.
“Can you see the effect when the Medina Marching Band comes through on Memorial Day?” Woodruff told the Village Board. “There won’t be a dry eye.”
Anyone from Medina who served in the military, past or present, is eligible to be featured on a banner. There is a $200 charge to be honor someone with a banner. The vinyl banners are double-sided and 5 feet tall by 2 ½ feet wide.
Photo by Tom Rivers: Mary Woodruff addresses the Medina Village Board on Monday. Jada Burgess, deputy village clerk, is in background.
Woodruff said she wants the program to be ongoing, with more veterans added each year.
“Let the world see we are proud of our men and women who have served and fought for our country’s freedoms,” she said.
There is a Feb. 15 deadline to order a banner to be up in time for this Memorial Day. The banners will go on Main Street including in the downtown, East Center Street, West Center Street, Pearl Street and Park Avenue.
The banners are expected to last about three years. Woodruff would like to see the banners moved around each year so the same veteran isn’t in the same spot.
She plans to keep the banner program going “for as long as people are interested in honoring their family or friend veterans.”
Application forms are available at the Medina Village Office, Ridgeway Town Hall, Shelby Town Hall and English Rose Tea Shoppe.
File photo by Tom Rivers: This photo from September 2016 shows Maple Ridge Road, just east of Route 63. The Village of Medina is adding a pedestrian bridge over Oak Orchard Creek, near where the signs for routes 31 and 63 are shown in photo.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 January 2019 at 2:36 pm
MEDINA – The Village of Medina will add a pedestrian bridge over Oak Orchard Creek on a busy and dangerous section of Maple Ridge Road.
The Village Board on Monday approved accepting funds from the Town of Shelby for the project. The money comes from a revolving loan fund from the Orleans Economic Development Agency.
The EDA is giving money to municipalities from a fund that needs to be discontinued. The state is requiring economic development agencies to shut down the revolving loans funds.
The state is allowing the funds to go back to the municipalities where there were projects that borrowed funds and then paid them back.
Shelby is due to receive $130,000 of the money from the revolving loan fund. The Town Board agreed to give those funds to village to go towards the bridge. Medina also will contribute some of its own money from a fund that has been dormant for several years.
The projects need to be considered by the state as a benefit to low-to-moderate income residents. Any project that improves handicapped accessibility automatically qualifies from the state, Whipple said.
The pedestrian bridge has been sought by the village for several years but Medina hasn’t received grants which would have also added sidewalks to Maple Ridge, which has become more popular for pedestrians with new businesses and also the presence of a GCC campus center.
Mayor Mike Sidari said area by the creek is narrow and seems to funnel pedestrians close to the road. It has been identified as a safety concern for several years.
The EDA has other money from the revolving loan fund to give to local municipalities. The towns or villages need to approve a project that meets state guidelines by March 31 or else the money goes back to the state Office of Community Renewal.
• Orleans County is due to receive about $200,000. The county has several projects it is considering but hasn’t settled on one yet, Whipple said.
• The Town of Yates will receive about $9,000 and will use that to improve handicapped accessibility at the town hall and parking lot.
• The Town of Albion has about $40,000 coming and has agreed to give the money to village to make Bullard Park more handicapped accessible.
• The Village of Holley is due about $115,000 and hasn’t determined how it use the funds yet, Whipple said.
Courtesy of Parkitects: This rendering shows a proposed layout for improvements to the Pine Street Park in Medina, which is off Park Avenue across from the Olde Pickle Factory.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 January 2019 at 10:09 am
Anonymous donor will lead fund-raising effort for $150,000 project
MEDINA – The Village Board on Monday approved a plan to upgrade Pine Street Park, adding a splash pad, new playground equipment and pathway that would include flowers and butterfly gardens.
An anonymous donor is leading the fund-raising effort for the improvements, which would be about $150,000. The Orleans Renaissance Group is helping to facilitate the fundraising.
Ben Frasier, a project manager for Parkitects in Buffalo, went over the proposal with the Village Board. The layout can be tweaked after consultation with Joe Perry, the DPW superintendent.
Pine Street Park is off Park Avenue across from the Olde Pickle Factory. The park currently doesn’t have too many amenities. Frasier said new playground equipment and the path with flowers and butterfly gardens could be the focus this year with the splash pad to follow, unless all of the fundraising comes together quickly. If the money is lined up soon, the park improvements could all happen this year.
The splash pad would be a smaller one, with a touch system to activate the water. Some of the water from the splash pad could be directed to water the flowers and the gardens.
Most of the park would remain open space to be used as a baseball field and for pickup soccer games.
There currently is a splash pad in Orleans County. Parkitects is also working with Albion to add a larger splash pad at Bullard Park this year. A state grant is covering most of the costs for that project.
A new playground and path are also planned for the park.
Photos by Tom Rivers: Medina Fire Chief Tom Lupo, right, pins the lieutenant badge on Michael Young during the Village Board meeting this evening. Steve Cooley, left, also was promoted to lieutenant.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 January 2019 at 10:24 pm
Steve Cooley shakes hands with Fire Chief Tom Lupo after the chief pinned the lieutenant’s badge on Cooley. Lupo will be retiring as fire chief on April 30.
MEDINA – The Village Board promoted to veteran firefighters to lieutenants during this evening’s Village Board meeting. Michael Young and Steve Cooley both are moving up in the ranks.
Young has worked for the Fire Department for 12 years while Cooley has been with Medina for nine years. They will work opposite shifts helping to lead the department.
Both were praised for their dedication and skills they bring to the department by Fire Chief Tom Lupo.
The fire chief also submitted a letter notifying the board of his intention to retire on April 30. Lupo has been working as fire chief since March 28, 2016. He stepped in the position in a part-time role for up to 30 hours a week while he was also the assistant chief at the Lockport Fire Department.
Lupo was brought in to provide leadership to the department on a short-term basis. The village will replace him with a full-time chief and Medina wants to have the successor ready before Lupo leaves on April 30, Mayor Michael Sidari said.
The position will be posted through Civil Service.
The mayor said Lupo has been a hard-worker who has made a big impact at the Fire Department.
“Thank you for what you’ve done for us, the department and the village,” Sidari told Lupo at the meeting, where the board accepted his resignation “with our sincere regrets.”
Lupo told the board he appreciated the chance to serve the department as fire chief.
“The opportunity that the Village Board gave me to lead the Medina Fire Department as Chief has been one of the best experiences of my professional career,” Lupo wrote in a Jan. 14 letter to Mayor Sidari. “The experience I have gained from working for the Village has been wonderful. I could not ask for a better place of employment. The village as a whole is absolutely beautiful. The whole area seems to be on an upward arc. I hope in some small way, I helped in the resurgence.”
“It is truly refreshing to see a governing body that cares about its workforce and places a high value on team work and respect,” Lupo continued in his letter. “The esprit de corps among the village workforce is great to see. I feel the fire department will function as well under the current cadre of officers as it has during my tenure.”
Provided photos: The Medina Varsity Winterguard performs on Saturday and took first place at Orchard Park.
Posted 27 January 2019 at 7:19 pm
Courtesy of Medina Mustang Band
MEDINA – The Medina Junior Varsity and Varsity Winterguards performed in competition for the first time this season on Saturday at Orchard Park with 25 guard units from Western New York and Canada performing.
The JV competed in the Regional A class (RA) and took second place with a score of 48.52. First place went to Lancaster with a score of 48.92.
The Varsity Guard performed in the Scholastic A class and earned first place with a score of 57.92.
The Winterguard season for Medina began in November with auditions and practices. Medina is sponsoring 3 guard units this season. The Pony guard is in its second year of existence and consists of 15 students in grades 5-8. This year their show is “The Queen of Soul – Aretha Franklin.”
The Medina Junior Varsity Winterguard earned second place.
The Junior Varsity Guard consists of 14 students in grades 4-9 with many returning members who have moved up in their skill level and accomplishments. This year’s show is “Imperfect” about the determination and perseverance that it takes to overcome the demons in our lives and realize that we are each perfect in our own way.
The Varsity Guard consists of 13 students in grades 7-12 who are seasoned performers. This year their show is “I Can Only Imagine.” Many people experience the loss of a loved one and this show takes you on a journey that can bring back fond memories of that special person.
All three guards will compete on this Saturday in Batavia. In total they will compete in eight shows this season before the championships. Medina’s home show is March 9.
Firefighters credit smoke detectors for saving lives and property
MEDINA – Medina firefighters say smoke detectors were key in getting a quick response to a fire in a garage overnight.
The Medina Fire Department and police officers were dispatched at 3:33 a.m. today to 117 Eastview Drive for a carbon monoxide alarm activation with light smoke in the garage.
Police officers Fraiser and Gross arrived at 3:34 a.m. and reported heavy smoke showing from the garage. The officers moved the residents to a patrol vehicle and gained entry to the garage as Medina Engine 11 arrived on scene, the Medina Fire Department posted on its Facebook page.
Medina FD Lieutenant Young declared a working fire in the attached garage and requested the balance of the structure fire assignment be dispatched. Firefighters from the 4th Platoon made quick work of the fire and all mutual aid units were cancelled.
Fire damage was contained to one of the two vehicles parked inside the garage and that vehicle is a total loss. The second vehicle as well as the garage, its contents and the house are intact, only receiving some minor smoke damage.
Crews remained on scene until 5:20 a.m. There were no injuries to civilians or firefighters during this incident. The fire is non-suspicious in nature and is currently under investigation by Medina Fire Department investigators.
“This incident highlights the vital importance of smoke detectors,” the Fire Department said. “Two lives were saved and over one hundred thousand dollars of property and contents were spared destruction because this house had smoke detectors properly placed throughout it.”
By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 23 January 2019 at 1:33 pm
Photo by Ginny Kropf: Darren Wilson, right, president of the Lyndonville Foundation, presents a check for $20,000 to Orleans Community Health CEO Mark Cye to help with purchase of a handicap accessible van for the North Wing,a skilled nursing facility at Medina Memorial Hospital.
MEDINA – Efforts to purchase a handicap accessible van for the North Wing at Orleans Community Health got a big boost with a donation from the Lyndonville Foundation.
On Monday, Lyndonville Foundation president Darren Wilson presented a check for $20,000 to hospital CEO Mark Cye.
Hospital personnel made a request to the Lyndonville Foundation after a suggestion by Lynne Johnson, Orleans County legislator and Lyndonville resident who is also on the Orleans Community Health board.
“We were looking for a local group which could support us in our efforts to purchase a van,” said Cindy Perry, director of outreach, education and marketing for the hospital’s Community Partners. “Our van takes residents to sites all over the county, including Lyndonville for ice cream in the summer.”
Wilson said the Foundation is always looking for opportunities to help the local community.
“Our board felt this was a valuable service which needed funding,” Wilson said. “This is what the Foundation does – fill gaps where funding is needed.”
Cye said they previously had a van, but it has been out of service for more than a year.
“It will be great to have a vehicle again which can accommodate wheelchairs,” Perry said.
The new van has been ordered and delivery is expected soon. It is a 14-passenger with wheelchair accessibility.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 January 2019 at 9:19 am
MEDNA – The Medina Theatre will be open today as a warming center for people who want to stop in on a brutally cold day.
Amy Herman, the manager and event coordinator at the Theatre, noted the public library and other public buildings are closed due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
With those sites closed, she said people have fewer places to go if they need a respite from the harsh weather.
“It’s too cold,” she said. “It is freezing out there. I know there are people out there who are homeless, who don’t have power.”
She welcomed people to stop by the Theatre at 601 Main St. She will have food and beverages available for free for people who need a break from the cold.
“We’ll be here for as long as people need it,” she said.
The temperature is currently 1 below zero and is forecast to reach a high of 8 degrees today.
Photo by Ginny Kropf: Jeff Lyons holds an accident victim extrication tool. He has just become a dealer for extrication equipment and started a new business, Genesis Rescue Systems. He sells cutting tools, a ram, stabilization blocks, jacks and air bags. His nephew Easton, 3, and Jeff's father Ancel check out the tool.
By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 18 January 2019 at 12:26 pm
MEDINA – As a 15-year member of Shelby Volunteer Fire Company and operator of Lyons Collision and Towing, Jeff Lyons has seen the need for special extrication equipment.
Many times he has responded to accidents involving motor vehicles or heavy equipment, as a volunteer firefighter or on a towing call, when someone was trapped and special equipment was needed.
“Getting involved in the fire department and being a tow truck operator go hand in hand,” Lyons said.
As a result, he has started a new business, Genesis Rescue Systems, to provide a local source of extrication equipment.
This includes Genesis tools, such as cutters, stabilization devices, jacks and lift/air bags.
When the fire company sent Lyons and several other firefighters to Crash Course Village in Dayton, Ohio, Lyons took every course offered relating to extrication in MVAs and heavy equipment, he said. The course was sponsored by Howell Rescue Systems and owner Todd Howell was very helpful, Lyons said.
Lyons Collision was started in 1978 by Jeff’s dad, Ancel. He added the towing service a year later. At that time, he had the only flatbed in the county.
Jeff has been involved since 1985, when he would come to the shop after school and work in the body shop. He started working full-time at the business in December 1987. His sister Kim Patterson runs the office and Jeff Stockwell runs the body shop. Jeff’s great-niece Elexa Murphy also works in the office. Ancel is officially retired, but is still there every day, Jeff said.
The business has expanded several times over the years, having bought the former Al Nudd’s garage at Orient and East Center Street in 2010, which they converted into the office. In 2012, they bought Russo’s Granite building and now own the entire complex from East Center Street to the railroad.
The new business represents a considerable investment, but one Jeff believes is much needed and well worth it.
Photos by Tom Rivers: Tim Cooper, left, sold Cooper Funeral Home last month to Jacob Hebdon, who has worked alongside Cooper as a funeral director since 2007.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 January 2019 at 9:16 am
Jacob Hebdon has worked with Tim Cooper since 2007
MEDINA – Cooper Funeral Home in Medina has a new owner who has been a steady presence at the site for the past dozen years.
Jacob Hebdon, 34, has worked as a funeral director alongside Tim Cooper since 2007. Cooper opened the funeral home at 215 West Center St. in 1987, when he was 26.
Cooper sold the business to Hebdon, with the deal closing on Dec. 27. The roles for the two have reversed with Cooper staying on as a funeral director and Hebdon’s employee.
Cooper said he wanted a reduced role. He also is confident the business is in good hands with Hebdon.
“We are lucky and Medina is lucky to have somebody with his talent and youthfulness who is staying in Medina and taking on the business,” Cooper said during an interview at the funeral home on Wednesday.
Hebdon has impressed Cooper over the years with his work ethic and commitment to the local families.
“He’s honest, he’s dedicated and he’s good with people,” Cooper said.
Jake Hebdon is shown on the second floor on the funeral home with a display of urns.
Hebdon was an architecture major at the University of Buffalo when he got a part-time job parking cars for a funeral home in Buffalo. That job led to a fascination and deep respect for the work at funeral homes. He switched his career path and graduated in 2006 from Simmons Institute of Funeral Service in Syracuse. He sent out letters to funeral homes in Western New York, seeking a job. Cooper gave him a call and the two have forged a strong working relationship.
“We’re a team,” Hebdon said. “We work in sync.”
Cooper appreciates the history of Medina and has a display of the hearse plates from the Gulinski, Thibault and Cleary funeral homes, which served the Medina community.
Hebdon grew up in the Batavia/Alexander area, and graduated from Alexander in 2003. He moved to Medina in 2007 and has been impressed with the community’s comeback, especially in the downtown area. He sees many people his own age running businesses and involved in pushing the community forward.
“I have lived here and been a funeral director in the Medina community since 2007 and have had the privilege of getting to know many families and to make personal bonds,” Hebdon said. “I am incredibly proud to call myself a part of such a vibrant and warm community. Medina is my home.”
When Cooper started the funeral home, there were four others in Medina. Now there are two. Cooper has a display at the funeral home, honoring the other sites that have since closed. The hearse plates for Gulinski, Thibault and Cleary funeral homes are prominently on display at Cooper.
Hebdon said Tim Cooper built a successful business, and has cared for a beautiful Medina Sandstone building, turning what was a doctor’s office with four apartments into the funeral home.
“I am excited and honored to continue the legacy that Tim has built here at Cooper Funeral Home,” Hebdon said. “I have learned a tremendous amount from him over the years and consider myself lucky to have had him as a mentor. I look forward to continuing the level of professionalism and compassion that we have had when caring for families in their time of need.”
Hebdon is a member of the National Funeral Directors Association, Erie Niagara Funeral Directors Association and the Medina Business Association. The Cooper Funeral Home serves Orleans and eastern Niagara counties, and offers many funeral and cremation options.
“I am very privileged and honored to be able to do what I do for a living,” Hebdon said. “This is not just a job for me. It is what drives me, it is my passion, my life. I find great gratitude in what I do, knowing you can be the person for a family to lean on in their time of grief.”
Jake Hebdon and Tim Cooper are pictured in a gathering room. There are many Medina school yearbooks between them on the display case. C.H. Thomas M.D. used to have a doctor’s office at the site before it was a funeral home. The big picture behind Hebdon and Cooper shows some of Cooper’s family members when they operated a store on West Center Street in the late 1800s.
Hebdon and Cooper are both unusual in that they pursued being funeral directors even though the business wasn’t in their family. Cooper became interested in funeral homes while mowing the grass and doing yard work for a funeral home in Medina when he was a teen-ager.
Hebdon said his parents both have demonstrated a hard work ethic and commitment to caring for others. His mother Lori was a registered nurse in the maternity ward at United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia and his father, Jodi, worked as a Genesee County Deputy Sheriff.
“They instilled in me a hard work ethic and sense of gratitude and fulfillment being able to help others,” Hebdon said. “Being the person for families to lean on during their time of grief, paying tribute to lives well lived, helping honor veterans who bravely served our nation, leaves me incredibly humbled and deeply honored.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 January 2019 at 10:31 am
MEDINA – The Village of Medina is hosting a public discussion and interactive session on Wednesday about the future of waterfront sites in Medina.
The Wednesday meeting on “Reimagining Our Waterfront” will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Medina United Methodist Church, the former Apple Grove at 11004 West Center St.
Community leaders welcome feedback from residents about how to better utilize the Erie Canal, Oak Orchard Creek and Glenwood Lake. The public is welcome to share ideas and visionary projects for Medina.
A committee has been working on a waterfront plan for Medina. The village has sizable open spaces near the canal, Glenwood Lake and the Oak Orchard.
The Village of Medina has initiated a Local Waterfront Revitalization Program to better utilize the waterfront for economic development, recreation and tourism.
The village received a state grant to cover most of the cost of the project to develop the waterfront program. That plan is expected to be finished in mid-2019, in time for Medina to apply for funding for state grants.
Some of the committee members see improved public access to the Medina Waterfalls as a top priority. Those waterfalls are currently dangerous for the public to access. The waterfalls are visible from the towpath by the canal, but a better vantage point could make the falls a bigger attraction for Medina.
The group also said the waterfront plan should include more amenities by the Canal Basin, including more lighting to make the area feel safer in the evening and at night.
The waterfront plan also can offer ways to better connect Medina’s downtown and some of the other historic sites in the community to the waterfront. Some committee members say a better developed trail system, linking the waterfront assets, should be developed.
Specifically, residents and committee members at a recent meeting noted projects that would boost Medina could include a brewery in the Canal Basin, a community center in Medina, and more backside facades such as the one at Fitzgibbons Public House that faces the canal.
