CITY OF OLEAN
Meeting on plan to upgrade stadium postponed
By Kathy Kellogg
CATTARAUGUS CORRESPONDENT
Updated: 06/27/08 6:33 AM
OLEAN — Lingering questions about a new organization’s plans to upgrade Olean’s Bradner Stadium will have to wait until the group’s organizational meeting is rescheduled.
Mayor David Carucci and Olean Public Works Director Tom Windus, who ordered Wayne Paving to demolish a portion of the stadium June 3, on Thursday canceled today’s organizational meeting of the new not-for- profit group, the Olean Local Development Corp.
Carucci said Windus had a pressing meeting today with the Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Conservation to discuss permits for the city’s East Olean sewer project.
One other key participant, Cattaraugus Empire Zone and Greater Olean Area Chamber of Commerce Director John Sayegh is away from the city, and another participant may have a scheduling conflict. A date hasn’t been set for the meeting, but it will take place on a Friday at noon, he said.
Little is known about renovation plans of the city-owned stadium, which was first built in the 1920s to host a PONY League baseball team and is the site of an annual fireworks display, a motorcycle rally and school sporting events.
Plans for a new athletic complex at Bradner were dropped by the Olean City School District because of ineligibility for state aid. The site also has been studied by the Urban Renewal Agency as a multi-use recreational facility and a tourist attraction in a cooperative effort between the city, the URA, St. Bonaventure University and Jamestown Community College.
Officials say a plan for the complex will be made final by the Olean Local Development Corp.
In announcing the meeting cancellation, Carucci said the LDC will design a phased project and work with a developer or a contractor.
“There will be a renovation, a new scoreboard, and the facility is going to be the eyepiece of the Southern Tier when it’s done,” he said. “People are going to be coming into town just to look at it.”
The start of renovations at the city-owned stadium surprised and confused six of the seven aldermen, who learned about demolition of a set of bleachers and locker rooms as debris was being carted away by city trucks. Officials say one reason for the demolition was a 2007 Code Enforcement Office inspection and a related June 9 citation for loose exterior concrete at the stadium.
Besides questions from aldermen about the cost, the absence of an asbestos survey, worker safety and disposal of materials on a lot owned by the Town of Olean, city residents have asked why the Common Council was not in the loop on the project.
Also, former Public Works Director Peter Marcus filed preliminary papers in an Article 78 lawsuit in Cattaraugus County Court last Friday in an attempt to stop the renovations.
On June 17, the Council adopted a resolution insisting all work at Bradner Stadium cease in the interest of safety until the Council learns of the plans and all legal measures are in place.
