Olean Common Council issues negative SEQRA declaration and adopts 20-year comprehensive development plan

The Olean Common Council on Jan. 14 issued a State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) negative declaration for the city’s comprehensive development plan and then adopted the plan, which council members described as a roughly 20-year roadmap developed by a planning committee since 2021.

Carrie Kerper, program coordinator in the Department of Community Development, told the committee the city completed a coordinated review process and recommended issuing a negative declaration so the council could adopt the plan (PL 2-25). Alderman Anastasia moved the SEQR negative declaration; Alderman Forney seconded. The committee carried the motion and referred the item to the regular meeting; a subsequent roll call recorded the resolution passing with six ayes.

During committee discussion, a council member identified the plan as the city’s “road map for the next 20 years,” thanked Kerper and the planning team for work beginning in 2021, and urged continued oversight of implementation. The council then considered PL 3-25 to adopt the City of Olean comprehensive development plan; the adoption was moved out of committee, referred to the regular meeting, and later recorded as approved with six ayes and one abstention.

The committee record notes multiple funding sources were used during development of the plan but does not itemize those sources, and it does not specify the plan’s precise title-years in consistent numeric form (the planning discussion described a 20-year horizon). The council did not record a timeline for publishing the final plan, adoption implementation steps, or required follow-up reports during the committee session; those items are expected to be addressed at the regular meeting or in subsequent staff reports.