Various regional planning efforts focus on rebranding the County with a “Music, Arts, and Education” theme. This project draws on existing regional strengths like SUNY Fredonia and the Chautauqua Institution to stimulate cultural and economic opportunities throughout the County.

Barcelona does have some wayfinding signage at street level, near Route 5. However, this signage is not noticeable to the average passerby, who may not even realize the existence of the Harbor due to the grade change. Also, all signage is outdoors and does not allow for easy posting of changing events or details.

This project would install vendor kiosks at various locations throughout Barcelona Harbor. It would also institute a campaign to re-brand Barcelona Harbor as an events-oriented space. This would attempt to attract food trucks to complement concerts and other performances. The vendor kiosks could sell merchandise, collectibles, handmade artisan goods, and beach necessities. This would allow a synergistic relationship between the vendor kiosks, the harbor’s regular daily activities, and the event spaces.

Commercial fishing from Barcelona expanded greatly when the railroad came through Westfield in 1852 and put the New York City markets within easy reach of the day’s catch. Barcelona became such a robust commercial fishing community for the next 100 years that four generations of several Barcelona families made their living as commercial fishing.

Fishing is a common and popular activity at the Barcelona Harbor. People fish both from the shore and on boats out in the lake. A publicly accessible, clean, and free facility to clean fish once caught would be a true and popular community asset, particularly with many of the harbor’s existing users. Currently many fishermen, including several charter boats, use the boat ramps and docks. The addition of a fish cleaning station in Westfield will attract more fishermen, as well as additional charter boats.

This project would include both a new shelter to enclose dumpster and restroom facilities at the foot of North Portage, where the beach parking lot access is located. This would provide styling and visually appealing elements to “dress up” and add practical features to what are necessary but frequently unattractive amenities.

The Barcelona business district is plagued by insufficient streets, crosswalks, sidewalks, lights, and outdoor furniture. Interestingly, it does have a substantial number of trees along its streets which should be retained and worked into the final streetscape design. As seen in the images below, some streetscape improvements have been made around Barcelona pier and lighthouse, significantly improving pedestrian safety, aesthetics, and amenity usage.

Many of the waterways in the State have benefitted from the addition of a kayak launch. From 2009 to 2017 U.S. kayak sales have increased by roughly 55%. Many public spaces, including some newly created parks, have installed a kayak launch to see the level of visitors increase dramatically, adding vitality to previously forgotten or underutilized spaces.

We anticipate that the corridor between the downtown and the harbor could be transformed from its low-density, primarily industrial, agricultural, residential, and vacant land-use orientation to a more complete and active mixed-use corridor. Investments made through the projects proposed here would guide and catalyze private investment into the corridor rather than locating in a more dispersed fashion on the outskirts of town (which has occasionally been proposed). Much of this stretch does not even have sidewalks or adequate lighting.