Village of Lewiston moving forward with waterfront dock improvement plan

Trustees approve Italian Festival, Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market & GardenFest dates for 2027

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

Not long after Dan Cota was elected mayor, he declared the damaged Village of Lewiston waterfront docks wouldn’t be touched until the best plan was in place for a permanent solution. He said he wasn’t interested in an insurance-money-funded quick fix.

On Monday, Cota announced details of such a resolution: Wahoo Docks has proposed completing the engineering, repair, modification and related work for $41,229.20.

“The modification replaces the rigid connection between the finger docks and the main dock with rubber isolation blocks that are bolted into the system,” the mayor explained after the meeting. “Those blocks allow a controlled amount of movement and flexibility, reducing the stress transferred into the dock structure.

“At the end of the dock system, Wahoo is designing a completely custom anchoring system specifically for this location. It uses a 4-inch pole mounted on a hinged, winch-operated assembly.

“In the spring, the pole is raised into position and lowered into the riverbed to secure the dock system. In the fall, the winch lifts the pole free of the riverbed, the hinged assembly allows it to be lowered horizontally onto the dock, and the entire dock system can then be removed for the winter.

“The purpose is to create a more flexible anchoring system that can handle the river conditions while also allowing the docks to be installed and removed seasonally without having to reconstruct the anchoring system each year.”

In addition, the ice boom will not be implemented this year or for the foreseeable future.

“If we do decide to do some type of boom in the future, it would be actually shore-mounted and closer to the main dock,” Cota said. “But everything that I’m seeing, I don’t think we’re going to need it anymore.”

The “main long run” will be kept, so fishing captains can “fit 10 boats on that line to pick up charters safely and easily.”

Cota added, “We're looking at building a 20-foot trailer that will have an electric winch on it that we'd be able to hook up to the dock and just pull it up there, and that way we can move the docks wherever we want after this year. So, if we choose to store them somewhere else, we'll have that ability with this trailer. The trailer won't be that expensive.

“This is all coming out of the authorized insurance money. We're not hitting any other line item on the budget. This is just to get the docks repaired and up and running.”

The municipality will not solicit bids for the repair work because of the specific nature of the equipment, and the prohibitive costs of using another company.

Trustees approved a motion that stated, in part, “the Village of Lewiston owns an existing Wahoo dock system that requires repair, modification and redesign; and … the proposed work involves custom engineering, repair, modification and components specifically compatible with the village's existing Wahoo dock system. … Wahoo Docks designed and manufactured the existing dock system and possesses the specialized engineering knowledge, design information, and familiarity with the existing system necessary to properly repair, modify and integrate the existing components. … The proposed work is specific to the existing Wahoo dock system and requires compatibility with the existing design and components. … The village determined that soliciting competitive bids would not be practical because the required work involves proprietary and system-specific components, engineering, and modifications to an existing system designed and manufactured by Wahoo Docks.”

Cota said, “We’d have to do a complete reengineering; we can’t just use Wahoo’s answer and say, ‘Build this for us.’ That’s not legal.”

As previously reported, ice and rough weather last winter wrecked the dock piles and left the fingers unusable for this past summer season. People who had reserved space were given the option to get their money back or use it for future rentals; plus, they were granted free launch passes for the 2026 season.

The Village of Lewiston received $177,800 for dock repairs, as well as $38,100 for loss of revenue.

Part of the insurance money ($12,700) will go toward electrical upgrades and the installation of heaters in the restroom facilities at Lewiston Landing. Work will be performed by Waveform Electrical.

“This will provide heat in the office and the two bathrooms, enabling us to keep those bathrooms open throughout the winter, and support the fishing industry – which, this year, has already been substantial,” Cota said. “It’s much bigger here than it even was last year” (25 trailers a day on average).

Heat will be set at the lowest level as a default, subject to weather and insulation.

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Italian Festival among events approved for 2027

Trustees approved three late-spring/summer event facility use requests:

•From Rachel Jolbert to use Academy Park for the annual Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market (7 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturdays, May 29, through Oct. 30 – with the exception of Peach Festival setup/event; adding the pavilion and two extra hours June 26 and Oct. 9).

•For the Lewiston Garden Club to host GardenFest on June 19-20, waiving the open container law along the event route on Center Street each day.

•From Carmine Bianco for use of Academy Park to host the Niagara County Italian Fest from July 16-18.

With regard to the Italian Festival, two stipulations were noted. First, Bianco and his team will have to work with/around the Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market on July 17. Second, garbage will need to be collected, contained and removed each day – not after the festival’s conclusion.

While this is a new requirement in the village’s facility use agreement for everyone, the municipality did expressly receive complaints about trash on site at Academy Park following the first run of the Italian Festival in Lewiston this past summer.

Following the board meeting, Cota was asked about the Italian Festival’s merchant makeup – specifically, the first event had just a few participating Lewiston businesses (and none of the village’s existing restaurants were on hand – though the now-closed Blue Cave was one of the vendors).

Cota said that, while Bianco is well within his right as a park renter to decide which businesses will participate, it would be nice to see more local involvement.

“I’d always like to see more local participants,” he said. “That’s been one of the things that I think that we’ve done consistently is trying to push towards the businesses that are here all year-round. That’s our priority. It’s always been one of our priorities.”

Special use permit for dog-grooming business

Following a series of meetings – including Village Board and Planning Commission – Nicole Ferrari was granted a special use permit to operate a dog-grooming business at 360 N. Second St. Under the approved terms, the permit is not to exceed five years; it will need to be approved annually, and based on the following stipulations: hours of operation between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., a maximum of one family of pets at a time, one 9-by-20-foot parking spot that runs parallel to the street and paved adjacent to the existing driveway. Also: limited services provided (bathing, drying, trimming); grooming activities in the detached garage; no boarding, daycare, overnight services or outdoor animal holding; and the village engineer will approve the water and sewer capacity, while the building and fire inspectors oversee health and safety inspections, as well as appropriate finishes.