Chautauqua County Planning & Development outlines 2025 benchmarks: housing, brownfields, broadband, trails and lake work

Chautauqua County Deputy County Executive for Economic Development Mark Geiss and staff presented the Department of Planning and Development's 2024 accomplishments and top benchmarks for 2025 at the committee meeting on Feb. 19.

Geiss outlined the department's roles—planning, zoning assistance, administering agricultural-district processes, managing the 2% and 3% occupancy-tax programs and watershed work—and said recent staff stability has strengthened the county's capacity to pursue grants and implement projects. He turned the presentation over to division leads for planning, economic development and watershed programs.

Planning division coordinator Rebecca Wurster described eight separate local waterfront revitalization plans (Northern Chautauqua LWRP) in process after a 2021 change in state guidance required municipal-level plans rather than a single regional plan. Wurster listed planning benchmarks for 2025 including draft LWRPs, a countywide resiliency plan (pending grant contract), a streets strategy for Vineyard/Drive/Fillmore, and advancing the Barcelona-to-Chautauqua-Institution trail update. She also described ongoing housing work: the countywide housing market and development plan with more than 80 recommendations, a housing site inventory broken into three size categories, marketing materials for developers and at least three grant applications…