Lewiston pickleball court location changing; town assessing Chamber building improvements

By Terry Duffy

Editor-in-Chief

Improvement projects occupied much of the discussion at Monday’s Lewiston Town Board session.

Among them, a new location for the pickleball courts proposed earlier by Supervisor Steve Broderick. He said the town’s $750,000 pickleball court project submitted for Niagara River Greenway Commission review in April included one pickleball court at Richard F. Soluri Park on the west end of the Portage Road plateau. A second pickleball facility would be located on the grounds of Lewiston No. 2 Fire Co. park on Saunders Settlement Road.

He said that, following the town’s April meeting with the Niagara River Greenway Commission – plus input from Lew-Port Youth Football parents and recent election changes with the Village of Lewiston – the town is now considering pickleball at Pletcher Road Park instead.

Greenway officials are scheduled to meet on the project again in September.

This week, Broderick revealed a change in plans.

“When we went to the Greenway Commission for approval, the Greenway Commission’s recommendation was we move them,” Broderick said.

He noted commission members were concerned about the court’s impacts to a nearby bird sanctuary on the plateau’s west end and suggested a location further east. Broderick said he learned the location could also interfere with the Lew-Port youth football program that’s nearby.

“The football players play up there; we had two meetings (with) the parents. They definitely voiced some concerns about losing territory, and we were going to clear some more area on the north end of the plateau,” Broderick said.

He added, “With the new administration (in the village), we need to take a step back (on the plateau site) and put it kind of on the back burner and maybe revisit the plateau at another time.

Broderick said, “We still want to move forward with pickleball, so I’m going to make a motion that we change the location from the plateau to Pletcher (Road) Park with the pickleball court.”

He stated the Pletcher Park option includes a nearby pavilion and would “save us a little bit of money” overall, while not disrupting the second pickleball court planned for the Lewiston No. 2 site. Broderick also said the Pletcher Road location corresponds with the Niagara Greenway mission and would be “an appropriate use of Greenway funds.”

Broderick’s proposal was seconded by Councilman Bill Burg and approved soon after by a 4-0 vote. Councilwoman Sarah Waechter was absent.

Chamber repairs

More projects discussed Monday included a town plan for repairs at the Upward Niagara Chamber of Commerce offices and welcome center at Academy Park. Broderick said the building, a former veterinary office that was moved and renovated about 15 years ago, is in need of significant repairs to its roof, doors and windows.

“We reached out to the chamber. When I was there last winter, there was snow coming in the windows, snow underneath their door, in their roof. You could actually see through the roof in small patches,” he said.

Village of Lewiston Engineer Mike Marino spec’d out the building rehab project so as to put it out for bid. Broderick presented a proposal submitted by Walter Johnson Building Co. of Niagara Falls for $167,905 to cover the overall repair work. Included is $111,000 for a new roof, along with one door and nine window replacements.

The numbers immediately caught the attention of Burg, a former town Planning Board member and a business owner working in construction materials.

“In my opinion, that’s a lot of money to replace windows that are 20 years old,” he said. “That’s way above what the market generally bears for window replacements or roofing.”

Broderick said the work with Walter Johnson would be a municipal contract with prevailing wages for the roof labor. In addition, the building’s roof would be of a higher-price cedar shake-type material, which had to clear the village’s Historic Preservation Committee criteria, along with other considerations on the historic building that drove up costs.

Still, Burg had questions.

“I’m saying the roof repair and for replacement of windows, that is way above the market,” he said.

Broderick explained the town has been unable to secure bids for government municipal work projects, mentioning the no-bid responses he has faced for work at the Lewiston Senior Center and a similar problem the Niagara County Water Department has been facing.

“We made a promise to the Chamber that we get them new windows and doors and a roof. We have the money in the H-98 (energy) account. I would like to move forward on it,” he said.

Attending board members said they wanted an opportunity to further review the construction specs and costs. At Broderick’s suggestion, the matter was tabled until the board’s next regular meeting in late-July.

In other news

•The town approved a $5,375 Swann Road traffic study to be performed by Invictus Civil Engineering of Lewiston. The work would entail an intersectional analysis of Swann and Model City roads “to identify and evaluate intersectional/traffic control deficiencies or potential improvements at the intersection.”

Funding would come from the town’s H-97 account for infrastructure.

•Town Highway Superintendent Mike Weiss reported on paving updates, as well as improvements planned at the Lewiston Dog Park. Weiss said paving was recently completed on Bronson Drive and, next up for crew work, is the Hillside-Orchard neighborhood, with milling to start July 14.

At the dog park, the board approved for $13,600 in ready mix concrete construction to address muddy conditions at the entrances and other transit areas.

Funding will come from the town’s H-97 recreation fund.

•Jeff Ritter, of the Lewiston Water Pollution Control Center, reported on ongoing work in the Morgan Farms neighborhood sewers.

“We’re putting the Morgan relief sewer in,” he said. “It’s going to take a lot longer than we expected, but the guys are making great progress.”

Ritter forecasted a late-July completion date.