2014 Silver ADDY Award Winner
VOLUME 3 ISSUE 7
FREE
THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE VILLAGE OF ELLICOTTVILLE AND THE TOWNS OF ELLICOTTVILLE, GREAT VALLEY AND MANSFIELD, NEW YORK
www.EllicottvilleTimes.com facebook/theEllicottvilleTimes
APRIL 25 - MAY 1, 2014
Your Hometown Newspaper Serving Ellicottville, Great Valley, Little Valley, Mansfield, Olean, Salamanca, Springville and Surrounding Communities
Calendar of Events
We’ve Got it Made in the Shade
April 25 Arbor Day Celebration Tree City USA Nannen Arboretum
Celebrate Arbor Day at Nannen Arboretum
April 26-27 Franklinville’s 2014 WNY Maple Festival
Public Ceremony April 25, 11 a.m.
May 2 Sky High Scheduled to Open Holiday Valley
By Pat Kerl
Arbor Day is an annual observance that celebrates the role of trees in our lives and promotes tree planting and care, and Ellicottville is proud to be part of this annual celebration. Arbor Day 2014 will be observed this morning, April 25, 2014, at 11 a.m. in the Nannen Arboretum, 28 Parkside Dr., next to the Town Center building. The Town of Ellicottville Supervisor, John Burrell, and the Village of Ellicottville Mayor, Charlie Coolidge, will make a proclamation declaring April 25, 2014, as Arbor Day in Ellicottville, N.Y. The idea for Arbor Day in the United States originated in Nebraska City, Neb. J. Sterling Morton and his wife, Caroline, were lovers of nature and the home they established in Nebraska was quickly planted with trees, shrubs and flowers. In 1872, the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture accepted a resolution by Morton to “set aside one day to plant trees, both forest and fruit.” The board declared April 10, 1872, Arbor Day offering prizes to the counties and individuals that properly planted the largest number of trees on that day. More than one million trees were planted in Nebraska on the first Arbor Day, and as a result, J. Sterling Morton became known as the “Founder of Arbor Day.” Shortly after this 1872
May 3 Art Crawl Downtown Springville May 10 Zoar Valley Fest 2014 May 15 Night Lights at Nannen Arboretum Begins May 17-18 Routes to Art Tamarack Lodge May 20 ECS Budget Vote and Board of Education Election May 30 - June 1 Geobash Allegany State Park
© 2014 Keystone Designers Inc.
June 6-8 Cycling Weekend Holiday Valley
See Made in the Shade page 9
Night Lights at Nannen Arboretum Twinkling Lights Make for Magical Atmosphere Gardens, Heron Music Festival, Jamestown Audubon Society — and now Ellicottville’s Nannen Arboretum. Night Lights fever has hit the area and is expected to draw several thousand visitors over three weekends — May 15–17, May 22–25, and May 29–31. The event runs from 7:30 to 10 p.m. each evening. The brainchild of Doug Sitler, of SitlerHQ LLC, this new Ellicottville event will take the Nannen Arboretum experience to a new creative level with colorful lights and soothing sounds. Sitler said he and his crew will probably begin setting up next weekend and will use more than a half mile of power cables and predominantly By Eva Potter LED lights to create the display. Night Lights events have been illuminating “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle,” said Sitler. “You dark evening skies all over western New York — just start putting together scenes and then you fill think Griffis Sculpture Park, Buffalo Botanical See Night Lights at Nannen page 6
June 6-8 Springville Dairy Fest June 7 Relay for Life Ellicottville Central School June 14 Mudslide Obstacle Trail Run Holiday Valley July 4-6 Summer Music Festival Ellicottville & Holiday Valley
Proposed $1.4 Million East Tank Project Public Hearing May 21, Benefit Tax Advised By Jann Wiswall
The Town of Ellicottville’s board had a busy night Wednesday, April 23, taking several critical steps to get the East Tank project on track to begin construction in June. Town Engineer Mark Alianello led the board through
a number of tasks. The first was to complete the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR). Alianello explained that there were three points in the SEQR that needed explanation or further documentation. One related to the question asking
if the project would impact water supplies. Because this project is intended to improve water pressure and supply, the answer was yes, but the impact was positive. Another asked if the project will impact a historic area. Alianello discovered that the See East Tank Project page 4
EVGV Trail Leaps Forward Committee Met with NYSDOT Staff Your Support Letters Needed
By Jennie Acklin
The Ellicottville-Great Valley Trail Committee is making great strides in the creation of a safe and accessible trail for the community and visitors. Last Monday, April 21, 2014, Jim Cuozzo and Greg Szewczyk, regional TAP coordinators with the NYSDOT, came to Ellicottville to meet with committee members to discuss the details of the TAP (Transportation Alternatives Program) application.
New High-End Cottages at Allegany State Park Year-Round Use, Many Amenities By Alicia Dziak
Allegany State Park (ASP) is a sprawling park of natural beauty that boasts hundreds of cabins, on numerous trails, which oftentimes filled to the brim come summer. While thousands of people flock to the park to stay in the rustic park cabins,
New cottages will be similar in style to this one, located on the Fancher Trail on the Quaker side of the park.
other prefer to rough it a little less, and the park’s full service cottages offer just that. They include bathrooms with showers, a stocked kitchen with stove, fridge, microwave, utensils and plates, a grill outside, and pillows and bedding. There are currently only a handful of these cottages within the park. One older style cottage (Pitt) is located on the Red House side of the park, and the rest are a newer style, located on the Fancher and Parallel Trails on the Quaker side. These cottages are so popular that if you don’t hop online exactly nine months before your stay (the window for making reservations at ASP), it’s unlikely you’ll be able to reserve them during peak season. In order to accommodate more guests looking to enjoy the cottage experience, more cottages are being built on both sides of the park. See High-End Cottages at ASP page 5
See EVGV Trail Leaps page 6
CCIDA Sees Opportunities Holiday Valley, Community Bank, MJ Painting Tax Breaks Approved By Jann Wiswall
On Tuesday, April 22, the board of directors of the Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA) approved a final resolution authorizing sales tax abatement on the purchase of materials associated with Holiday Valley’s planned
improvements over the next a pool-area cabana, expanding two years. Holiday Valley will the third floor of the Mountain save as much as $272,000 in Sports Center and more. sales taxes on up to $3.4 million The board also approved in renovations/improvements. a resolution authorizing Planned work includes Community Bank to enter into realigning Holiday Valley a 10-year PILOT (Payment Road, purchasing 54 automated in Lieu of Taxes) property snow guns, renovating the Inn tax exemption and a sales tax at Holiday Valley, constructing See CCIDA Opportunities page 3