Oswego Village President Troy Parlier expects there will be plenty of questions about development in the village at his first “Winter Coffee with the Mayor” meeting for residents this week.
The informal meeting will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Friday at Oswego Village Hall, 100 Parkers Mill.
“This is an effort to keep everybody informed of what the village has been doing. There’s so much going on around town,” Parlier said.
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The village president expects questions about the progress of construction in the downtown where three major projects are underway.
“With the great weather we have had three extra months with full construction,” Parlier said.
Construction is underway to turn the former Alexander Lumber yard into a $69 million mixed-used development. Geneva-based Shodeen Group LLC, after months of delay, secured the financing to build two six-story buildings with luxury apartments on the upper floors and commercial space on the street level on the corner of Route 34 and Adams Street.
The project includes construction of a parking facility the village would own.
“All aspects of construction are running ahead of schedule. Hopefully one year from now the parking deck will be done,” Parlier said.
The village has installed underground infrastructure on Route 34 as part of the downtown improvements.
Work is underway for a $3.1 million mixed-used development including at least one restaurant with a beer garden on the site of the old Village Hall.
Yorkville-based Imperial Investments has approval to build a three-story brick facade building at 113 Main St. which is part of the village’s revitalization of the “downtown core” for commercial, residential and other types of uses.
“There’s a ton of steel going up. They have three stories up already,” Parlier said of the old Village Hall site.
People have been particularly inquisitive about what’s going on with the old Dairy Hut at 121 Main St., he said.
The former ice cream shop was open for nearly 60 years during the warmer months before it was demolished.
Imperial Investments purchased the property, which is south of the mixed-use development it has under construction next door.
The developer is in the process of building a family-style eatery with a farm theme at the site to be called Dairy Barn Oswego.
“People have a lot of memories there,” Parlier said.
“There had been some apprehension about losing a piece of Oswego but people get excited once they learn more about it. The whole thought process of the development is to keep the theme of the Dairy Hut and honoring its history by naming it the Dairy Barn,” Parlier said.
The Dairy Barn will be a year-round restaurant with outdoor seating as in the past. There will be a stage inside the restaurant for live country music, he said.
“It will fit in nicely with downtown Oswego,” Parlier said.
Parlier invited seniors to two “Coffee and Conversation” sessions earlier this year. He met with seniors in November at the Oswego Public Works facility and in July at the Oswego Police Headquarters to inform them of various topics of interest.
He’s planning to hold a coffee session quarterly.
“We want to involve our residents and it’s important for me to get first-hand feedback. I want to hear it right from the mouth of our residents so we can respond to their needs,” Parlier said.
One of the snow routes was adjusted as a result of one of the recent meetings, he said.
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“We can’t go wrong when we enlist residents to be part of the government. That’s the way it should be,” Parlier said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.