Urbana holds waterfront workshop

HAMMONDSPORT--The town of Urbana held a public informational meeting in late May to discuss preliminary conceptual designs for Champlin Beach access improvements. Local residents, property and business owners were encouraged to attend and participate. The goal of the session was to get feedback on design elements for the Hammondsport Urbana Waterfront Master Plan. Urbana has selected Saratoga Associates to provide the planning and concept design coordination.
Daniel M. Shearer, president and chief executive officer for Saratoga Associates, said, "We were very pleased with the feedback from the Urbana meeting. I would say some 100 people attended and we were able to get residents opinions for the different design concepts we presented. There was certainly a consensus of support for many of the ideas"
Shearer said the public's input was recorded in three ways: public comment during and after the presentation; comment cards where attendees could voice their opinions on the different design options for each project element; and dot voting where attendees used different color dots based on their preference. All of the input is in the process of being compiled; however, the dot voting results have already been tabulated. Note that results of the dot voting are intended to pick a design option direction which will be also be influenced by the comments received and other potential factors. The preferred alternatives for each element of the project will be presented for another round of public input this fall before the designs are finalized. Two of the design concepts are shown on pages 1 and 2. There are seven different areas that have been designed and those will be shown in detail at the Urbana fall meeting with Saratoga Associates.
Schearer said the eventual goal is to have the Urbana dock open to the public by the spring of 2021.