GENESEE COUNTY
Legislature approves GCC plan for art gallery
BATAVIA — The Genesee County Legislature on Wednesday gave unanimous approval for Genesee Community College to go ahead with an $895,000 expansion of the campus theater, which will include an art gallery.
The 2,200-square-foot addition to the lobby of the Stuart Steiner Theater would be used for art exhibits, including student artwork, traveling exhibits, local shows and receptions.
If the project is approved as expected by the State University of New York Construction Fund, the state will pay half the cost. The Genesee Community College Foundation will contribute $325,000, and the GCC Association, a faculty-student organization involved in college construction projects, will provide $100,000.
College officials noted there will be no cost to local taxpayers.
GCC’s board of trustees approved the project last week. The Legislature needed to act as well because it is the college’s sponsor.
No timetable for construction was announced.
The 328-seat theater was built in 1991 and named for the college’s first dean and third president.
The new art gallery will be GCC’s third major construction project in recent years, following a student union and additional campus housing.
The legislators, meeting in the Town of Batavia board room as part of their outreach program, also agreed to establish a capital improvement plan next year to construct a 10- bay hangar at the county airport. The $600,000 cost will be split between the state Department of Transportation and the county.
The lawmakers also accepted three state grants, two of them from the Office of Homeland Security.
The county’s Management Services will receive $110,222 for computer upgrades, a support vehicle and planning for hazmat responses.
The Sheriff’s Office will get $46,000 to be used in the local Counterterrorism Zone Strategy.
The third grant, for $18,800, is earmarked for county participation for one year in the state’s “Buckle Up New York” safety campaign.
Several members of the Genesee County Sno-Packers spoke in an effort to win the return of a bridge they installed without county permission. The span over Oak Orchard Creek in the Town of Alabama was put in place in late September and removed last week by county workers.
The group had hoped that snowmobilers and others would be able to use the bridge to access trails into Orleans County.
The Legislature suggested that the club present its case at next month’s meeting of the Public Service Committee.
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