The proposals were discussed at a meeting and include plans for a new entertainment venue at the former Cayo Industries haunted house site on Railroad Street, new housing and commercial space on Mill Street and upgrades to Bellamy Harbor Park. Mayor Jeffrey Lanigan said they are always looking for more feedback from the community about what should be included.
“We appreciate the continued input, anything that anyone would like to see today or go on the website, just reach out, give us the input on what you’d like to see, this really is a community project, everybody come together and say this is really what we want to see,” Lanigan said.
The next steps for the project include a public open house where residents can view all the proposals. Details about the open house will be posted on the project’s website.
Lanigan also provided an update on Staley Elementary School, which has been closed since 2021 after flooding from Tropical Storm Fred. Last month, the district said FEMA funds could not be used to demolish the former school. Lanigan sent a letter to FEMA for clarification and received a response last week.
“It stated they were not told they couldn’t use that funding for demolition purposes for demolition, and they actually encourage them to utilize it for that because that’s part of the FEMA project is the demolition of that site so nothing else could occur there,” Lanigan said.
A proposal to reuse the Staley School site was also presented at the waterfront meeting. We reached out to the school district for a response, we’re waiting to hear back.