SALAMANCA — Residents of the Salamanca City Central School District will have the opportunity Tuesday to vote on a referendum that would allow the district to sublease Veterans Memorial Park from the city for 50 years.
A positive vote from community residents would give the green light to begin formal planning to propose a facilities project at the park, including upgrades to athletic fields and other elements in need of renovation.
Even with a district sublease, the city would continue to own the park as the primary leasee with the Seneca Nation of Indians.
In addition to the sublease, the vote includes a proposal to purchase two properties adjacent to the southwest end of Seneca Intermediate School for $75,000. The space from the properties would allow for a new main entrance, parking lot and drop off area for the school.
Dubbed a “properties acquisition project,” signing the sublease and acquiring the two properties next to Seneca would have no additional tax impact on the community.
“This is possible because of the support of the Seneca Nation leadership and the city council’s leadership,” said District Superintendent Robert Breidenstein said. “We’re grateful to have strong, vibrant partnerships with both the Nation and the city. This is good for Salamanca kids, athletes and the community.”
In preparation for a potential capital project expected to be put before the community in 2019, the district would have to sign a sublease on Vets Park to satisfy a state Education Department requirement.
Informal discussions on the potential renovations of the park began about 15 months ago between the city, Nation and district with the first formal discussion held in January 2018. The Nation approved the sublease proposal in March followed by city approval in August.
“This is a wonderful thing for the city of Salamanca,” said city council member Michael Lonto, chair of the recreation commission. “The rec commission is on board and for it. We’re hoping it restores Salamanca pride.”
Salamanca Mayor Michael “Smitty” Smith said the project would be a “win-win-win” for the school, the Nation and the city.
“This upgrade, at no cost to the taxpayers, could be an incredible thing for the city of Salamanca,” he added.
Potential highlights to a Vets Park project could include new and repositioned fields to allow baseball and lacrosse to be played simultaneously, renovations to concession stands, restrooms, parking, lights, sound system, playground and scoreboard and newly constructed team rooms and storage areas.
“It’ll give us a top-notch athletic field,” Lonto said. “We’re hoping that it spurs more athletic activity in using the field, getting kids away from the computers and out playing high school sports and other sports.”
Smith said none of the athletic fields at Vets Park can currently host Section VI playoffs, and with this referendum, Salamanca is one step closer to making that a reality.
“From the city’s end, we get to keep the veterans memorials out in front. That will still be a city park,” the mayor said. “Think of the money the city will save not having to maintain Vets Park. It’ll be a huge saving for us that we can put into beautifying our other parks.”
In preparation for the vote, school district representatives presented seven community forums throughout the Salamanca area between Nov. 1 and Dec. 12 to inform voters of the referendum and answer any questions.
“We have had well over 200 participants at all of the forums, which is a significant improvement over previous referendums,” Breidenstein said. “The conversations have been very thoughtful on the part of the community members, talking about the next steps and acknowledging why this is important for the community.”
Overall, school and city officials say the proposal has been generally well received. A few have voiced concern about the district taking over some control of the park, such as handling the scheduling of events, maintaining it and changing what is already there.
“They would like to see improvements at the park as well as maintaining its historical importance,” Breidenstein said. He said the only communication the district has received concerning the potential project discussed the pros and cons of artificial turf, which may be an option for the renovated fields.
“I think we’ve done a good job of communicating the importance of the project,” said Breidenstein. “We’re hopeful to have the community support and then move forward for what we anticipate would be a spring 2019 referendum.”
Should the referendum vote fail on Tuesday, Breidenstein said the school sports and other community events would continue as usual at Vets Park, but the enhancements to the grounds would not occur.
“We would have to revisit why that happened,” he said.
Should the vote pass, Breidenstein said the district will “springboard” into conversations with the community in January following the holiday break.
“We’ll get folks in for maybe three or four community meetings in January to talk about what designs they’re looking for in the park,” he added.
The public vote on the referendum will be held from noon to 9 p.m. Dec. 18 in the high school gymnasium at the Iroquois Drive campus.
(Contact managing editor Kellen Quigley at kquigleysp@gmail.com)