After months of public workshops aimed at creating a vision for downtown Batavia, a final public meeting was almost overshadowed by an unsigned flier and recent rumors that have had residents envisioning homes being bulldozed to make way for a new downtown bridge.
“No decision has been made regarding the bridge corridor,” City Administrator Bill McGrath told about 100 residents at the recent meeting.
He noted that city officials had received many phone calls concerning the flier, which had been stuffed into mailboxes, and rumors regarding comments allegedly made by city workers to some residents.
McGrath apologized to the residents about the “misinformation” about the city’s internal discussions on where to build a second bridge and when to replace the deteriorating, 100-year-old Wilson Street Bridge.
“We are brainstorming, and some of the things we talk about would disrupt people’s lives, but having that discussion is our task. It’s what you pay us to do,” McGrath said.
He added that the city had set up a schedule of public hearings in the next two months about the second bridge and that it plans to present voters with a referendum proposal on the matter in November. Several past studies narrowed to four the bridge scenarios under consideration.
“But where the second bridge is located is not going to stop downtown redevelopment in its tracks. It is not going to make or break it. It is only a tiny, tiny piece,” he said, trying to direct residents’ attention back to the hearing on downtown.
Some angry residents continued to fire questions about the bridge until McGrath moved the discussion to another room.
At the hearing on downtown, land-planning consultants explained some suggestions in the consensus plan, including adding green space and dwellings downtown and encouraging commercial development in the fringe areas of downtown.
“What is unique is that this is a vision plan by residents, and what they were attempting to do and accomplish is to identify what they expect downtown Batavia to be like,” said Walter Magdziarz, project manager with St. Charles-based Land Planning Services, which received a $37,000 contract last summer to produce the plan.
“All of this came from the citizens,” he said, referring to the series of public design workshops and surveys held since last August.
“This stimulated people to think of things they had not thought about before. What everybody learned is that, despite differences and different expectations, they shared beliefs on Batavia’s core values, strengths and weaknesses.”
“This is only the beginning of a long process,” he added. “That’s why we call it an implementation workshop — to begin to help the city identify what tasks it should undertake to implement the plan.”
Among the issues raised at the meeting were how to handle truck traffic and creating an interim plan to attract businesses during the Wilson bridge reconstruction.
Consultants will present the vision plan to City Council members over the next few months. That process will include additional public hearings.
