LITTLE VALLEY — With attendance dwindling at the Cattaraugus County Senior Wellness and Nutrition Program site in Little Valley, the decision has been made to close it.
Cathy Mackay, director of the Department of the Aging, which oversees the 12 senior dining sites throughout the county, told the County Legislature’s Human Services Committee of the upcoming closure Wednesday night.
“This will happen in the next few months,” Mackay said after meeting with the committee.
The Little Valley site, in the Municipal Building on Rock City Street, has been operating three days a week for the past two years, Mackay said. Diners have the option of home delivery by meals on Wheels on the days Little Valley was not open or drive to Cattaraugus.
Mackay said regular participation at the Little Valley site where the county paid $223 rent a month was down to one person a day. “It makes no sense to staff it and keep open for one person,” she explained.
Without costs of the van, combined savings will be about $8,000 a year.
The Cattaraugus dining site on Washington Street in only about 6 miles away and is open to anyone from the Little Valley area on days the Little Valley site is not open, Mackay said.
“If we see the need to come back, we’d consider it,” Mackay said. She was originally hesitant to close the Little Valley site since it was at the county seat.
Mackay said Little Valley Mayor Norman Marsh agreed with the closing. Marsh is a Meals on Wheels volunteer delivering meals. A number of residents at the Little Valley Terrace Apartments for seniors receive Meals on Wheels and did not want to go to the congregate dining center, she said.
“We did some outreach to see if others were interested in coming to the dining site, but the need was not there,” Mackay said. Home-delivered meals have been on the increase.
The Public Works Committee approved a $44,200 bid from H.H. Rauh Contracting, Lakewood for demolition of the Old Supervisors Building on Erie Street in Little Valley. The building housed Health Department, Youth Bureau and other county offices until it was condemned two years ago.
The Development and Agriculture Committee heard an environmental and structural report on three former manufacturing sites in Ellicottville, Franklinville and Gowanda from Greg Lesniak of Barton & Loguidice Co., Rochester.
The report was commissioned by the county with the thought of the possible sale and reuse of the properties.
Lesniak said redevelopment of each of the small former manufacturing sites was possible and while most of the buildings contained asbestos, soil and groundwater samples were mostly below actionable levels. There were elevated levels of a degreaser, trichloroethylene (TCE), in groundwater at one site.
The properties have unpaid taxes and could be seized by the county. The county, however, does not want to get stuck with an environmental cleanup bill.
The 3.5-acre Franklinville site is a former dairy processing facility and Standard Oil Co. oil storage facility. The buildings require a full demolition at a cost of $300,000. Full costs to redevelop the site were estimated at $573,000.
Lesniak said the 1.8-acre Gowanda site required only minimal demolition, at a cost of $140,000. Full redevelopment costs — including two new roofs — were estimated at $465,000.
The final property in Ellicottville, a former cutlery on 1.4 acres, could be reused, but one building could be demolished because the ceilings are too low. There is some soil contamination, but not actionable unless it is disturbed. The study confirmed the presence of TCE, a common industrial degreaser, at the site. They are relatively low, but do exceed state standards.
(Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RMillerOTH)
