City officials go over West Third Street redesign with residents
Over 25 people turned out Monday night to learn more about the West Third Street Redesign being proposed by the City of Jamestown.
The public input meeting held at Healing Word Ministries featured city officials giving an overview of the project that includes replacing sidewalks and driveway aprons on the section of West Third Street between Hall and Hallock Streets. New “candlestick” style street lighting also will be installed in addition to the planting of new trees that replace the “Cathedral Oaks” that were taken down at the end of 2020.
DPW Project Engineer Mark Roetzer said the city hopes to have a contractor in place by May and breaking ground by mid-May or early June. He said the project will be done one block at a time as homeowners will not have access to their driveways once digging begins.
Roetzer said doing the work to move electric lines from the backyards of the houses on the southside of West Third Street is a big part of the project, “So, the back lots, the actual moving of the electrical lines is in the future, but we’re getting the infrastructure in place this year. I don’t know when that’s scheduled for.”
Parks Manager and City Arborist Dan Stone said residents on West Third Street will have the option to select from a list of four to five trees which one they’d prefer to have in front of their house, “And with that said, I’d still like to have some kind of continuity on the street as well. For example, over at Lind Funeral Home, I was thinking of planting some American Elm trees. They have a real nice red color to them but a small leaf to them. If you’ve ever driven by, those guys were out there every day when we had the Oaks picking up acorns and leaves. Didn’t matter what time of the year or day of the week. So to make it a little easier on them and have a nice, bright canopy coming on through, but there is room for selection for sure.”
He said a root barrier that’s a combination of metal and plastic sleeves would be put down, which had never been done before, “Back in the mid ’80s, the curbs were all taken up and redone on Third Street. That was part of the issue with the stability of the trees 40 years later. So we’re looking to help avoid those kind of things and the trees be able to live in the situation we put them in. We’re going smaller trees, but they’re still going to be big trees.”
He said the trees should still eventually reach between 40 and 50 feet tall.
Residents requested the information be made available on the city’s website. DPW Director Jeff Lehman added that anyone with questions can call Public Works at 716-483-7545.
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