The Resilience of Dansville
Extraordinary results begin with one small change. The formula for successful communities includes a place, progress, potential, proof, and players all added up to success. For the community of Dansville, the equation has factored in a welcoming physical environment, recent job growth, future opportunities, readiness and willingness from organizations, strong support of a local vision, and expertise from our office. Dansville is at the tipping point of true transformation. Recent economic development successes and ongoing impactful projects have built positive momentum. The Village of Dansville has been refining the vision for downtown by undertaking a variety of planning initiatives and studies.
Firstly, the place is prime. Between the southern hills of the Genesee Valley, you will find Dansville as a rural community with a vibrant downtown that uses its history to tell a story of resilience and resurgence. It’s a place where neighbors remain steadfastly proud of their neighborhood and supportive of their local businesses. It’s where the sound of parades and playgrounds can constantly be heard. It’s where you find a difference between traffic and tranquility. It’s where lifelong memories are made. Dansville’s designated downtown district is one of the longest intact 19th-century commercial areas in Western New York. This three-block commercial core was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 and significant investment in the downtown has begun to transform the area.
The Dansville and Mount Morris Railroad began operation in 1870, a 15-mile standard gauge short-line that ran independently until it sold in 1985. Since then, the Dansville depot has remained unused and in desperate need of restoration. This priceless historical building was a repository of local history and tradition. With the help of a $287,000 Restore NY grant, the owners invested more than $500,000 to bring the depot back into use as Battle Street Brewery. The State Historic Preservation Office called the project “an excellent example of adaptive reuse” and went on to state that the project has “reestablished the building as a pivotal place in the community.” Having held its grand opening in May 2018, the brewery has since celebrated its first anniversary and this building has now become a community gathering place and destination attraction for visitors to the area.
“Extraordinary results begin with one small change”
In 2000, the Village of Dansville partnered with the Department of Transportation on a $5 million project to reconstruct the roadways and sidewalks throughout the central business district. Upgrades for lighting and streetscapes were added to the overall scope and included pedestrian-friendly ornate light posts, curbside planters, tree plantings, benches, and turning lanes. This project enhanced the attractiveness of the downtown area providing a welcoming feeling for the community. In 2011, the Dansville Public Library expanded its facility from what was the former Shephard Homestead. The 1820s residence underwent a $3.5 million renovation that brought another 10,000 square feet of space to the facility while preserving the original structure of the Shepard House. Additionally, between 2010 and 2016, $670,00 in New York Main Street grant funds spurred another $1,940,729 in private investment to renovate 25+ derelict buildings resulting in new commercial and residential space in the downtown district.
Our office funded Sign and Facade programs in Dansville which injected $99,718 into the community, leveraging an additional $354,274 in private investment to assist 30 buildings and businesses as of 2019. With the entire village walkable within a one-mile ring, you have varied housing options within walking distance of the downtown district.
While Dansville’s traditional downtown has the feel of a city, it is surrounded by inspiring nature. These natural features add not only to the attractiveness of the physical environment but to the quality of life of those living there. Downtown stands against the backdrop of rolling green hills. The steep hills shelter the valley and as a result, create a warmer climate and fertile soil which is why the Village was once the location of several nurseries. Today, more than 145 acres of parkland are scattered throughout the village, much of it within the downtown district.
Located just outside the Village and only two miles from Downtown, Stony Brook State Park is 568 acres of pristine nature. The park offers natural beauty in a gorge, a stream-fed pool, hiking trails, and three major waterfalls that are uncommonly accessible. Additional recreation options include picnic areas, playgrounds, campsites, cabins, hunting, cross-country skiing, and fields for baseball, basketball, tennis, and volleyball. The park has an upper and lower entrance, connected only by Route 36 and trails.
Organizations have made significant progress in Dansville, putting the area on the map. Noyes Memorial Hospital is located a walkable half mile from downtown Dansville and employs 430 people. In recent years, the hospital has seen significant growth. In 2016, Noyes Health became an official affiliate of the University of Rochester (UR) Medicine, joining organizations like Highland Hospital in Rochester, Thompson Health in Canandaigua, St. James in Hornell, and Jones Memorial Hospital in Wellsville, to create a regional healthcare system with the express intent of allowing patients in the region to receive the best possible care close to home. Also in 2016, Noyes Mental Health Services became Noyes Mental Health and Wellness Services, moving from a cramped, aging stand-alone space to a newly renovated building on the north side of Dansville, with office space for 24 therapists and two art therapy rooms. In 2017, in a unique partnership with UR Medicine’s Wilmot Cancer Institute, the Ann and Carl Myers Cancer Center began offering medical and radiation oncology services in the newly renovated space. The hospital and its recent affiliation with the UR Medical Center have continued to add services beyond the original and challenging scope of rural healthcare. This model is bringing a full slate of offerings to the facility and qualified staff to support operations, which is in turn drawing locals from as far as 30 miles away who have no accessible options.
Also in 2019, the addition of a second dialysis treatment center located in the Livingston County Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation (CNR) means that elderly locals at our County nursing home will not need to be transported to the other location in Geneseo to receive services. Overall, the $24 million in capital expenditures, supplemented by capital campaigns which raised approximately $6 million toward costs, provides an excellent option for healthcare services to the locals of Livingston County and its surrounding area. It is estimated that over 200,000 individuals obtain services ranging from general visits and orthopedics to cancer treatment and dialysis on an annual basis. The economic impact of the hospital is estimated at well over $31 million to the local economy.
Somewhat related is the recent addition of the Council on Alcohol and Substance Abuse – CASA-Trinity to the area. A $2.6 million investment adapted a former automobile dealership into a counseling center for those struggling with addiction. An inpatient rehabilitation facility was also constructed as part of the project which provides capacity for 25 locals who can receive medically-assisted therapy, group therapy, adolescent services, and full evaluations. The only one of its kind within a 45-mile radius, this facility has filled a necessary gap for the stabilization, rehabilitation, and re-entry of those afflicted by substance abuse. As a recognized medical crisis in today’s society, the services offered by CASA are a welcomed addition to the rural population of Livingston County.
“Home to Noyes Memorial Hospital, a 72-bed facility with a 24-hour emergency room”
In 2005, the vacant 500,000-square-foot former Foster Wheeler Facility – located 1.5 miles north of downtown – was purchased for redevelopment by Dansville Properties, LLC. By 2015 the facility was ready for a 46,000 square foot expansion for a more efficient workflow. Three companies, LMC Mechanical Contractors, American Motive Power, and Providence Agriculture now operate from this location employing a combined 500 people, requiring a strong skill set in a wide variety of trades: agricultural, welding and fabrication, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, and civil engineering, to name just a few.
With retail trade making up almost 20% of jobs in Dansville, downtown as a whole should not be overlooked as one of the area’s major employers poised for growth. There are significant opportunities to renovate and repurpose vacant downtown buildings to include a mix of uses. Dansville is strategically located at a major, multimodal transportation crossroads. Car, truck, rail, and air transportation together play an important role in the support of local and regional manufacturing, retail, and service sectors. Economic development opportunities are plentiful in Dansville; the key to its potential for important infrastructure enhancements and future development is readily available land. A shovel-ready industrial park located one mile north of downtown offers 124 developable acres. Less than a mile south of downtown is a highly visible development site just off exit 4 of I-390 with 42 available acres. In today’s global economy, the industry can be located anywhere.
The Dansville Central School has developed a master plan for bringing its athletic and learning facilities together on the main campus. The property was acquired in early 2019 and has been proposed for additional soccer fields and tennis courts. A redesign for the all-weather track and football field has also been proposed. A growing and developing half-day and all-day 3-4-year-old Pre-K program provides children and parents with an early learning solution and gives the students a head start into Kindergarten. New renovations have been approved and will begin in the summer of 2019 to renovate and update the middle school music, arts, and drama rooms. These improvements have provided students with state-of-the-art facilities and fields, increasing their level of pride in the school, community, and themselves. This too has a perceptual value to those who visit which sends a message that the school system and local taxpayers of the district are investing in their young folks.
Our office has been able to work with Dansville for many years to develop new opportunities for growth in the downtown. We’ve been working collaboratively with the Dansville community for 15 years. Beginning in 2003 we developed two grant programs to help fill vacant storefronts. Using Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, the Rent Subsidy Program would reimburse new business owners a portion of their monthly rent while an Essential Goods and Services grant would reimburse a portion of start-up costs for targeted businesses that the Village was trying to attract to fill existing gaps.
In 2007 a promotions committee was established to plan and carry out events to draw people downtown to support the businesses that had been created. Now more than 10 years later festivals, wine walks, and public art installations continue to bring traffic to Downtown Dansville. By 2010 we were ready to focus on Dansville’s physical environment so we developed and adopted Design Guidelines to advise renovations when rehabbing downtown storefronts. Armed with our newly completed Design Guidelines, we applied for and were awarded New York Main Street funding that same year. With this $400,000 grant, Dansville leveraged more than $1 million in private investment to renovate 13 buildings – 4 of which were slated to be demolished!
In 2011, the County piloted its first locally funded Sign and Façade improvement program, offering matching grants for transformational façade projects in the downtown district. By 2019, the Sign and Façade program invested $100,000 in 29 projects in Downtown Dansville leveraging more than $250,000 in private investment. In 2014 a second New York Main Street grant was awarded. This $270,000 was matched dollar for dollar in private investment to complete 10 more projects. In the fall of 2017, the Livingston County Land Bank was approved by New York State – now a vital tool that supports community development.
Even with our help, Dansville wouldn’t be a hub for opportunity without the people and locals who are so invested in the area. A 2017 study conducted by Beck McCray, an internationally recognized expert on rural trends and small business, identified the top five things small towns see as their greatest challenges. These were: downtown is dead, losing young people, no one shops in town, missing tourism opportunities, and needing new locals. However, the measure of a community is in how you deal with those challenges. Dansville has measured up. The people of Dansville grew tired of hearing these concerns and began to do something about it. Dansville is on the rise. There is a growing contingent of people in the community that is investing in the potential. They are investing in themselves and moving their families here. They’re starting businesses and using their savings and retirement to do it. These are not Rockefellers and Carnegies…They’re artists, they’re hard workers, they’ve got grit, and they’re investing more than just money. Some grew up here and others found their way here. Either way, they have a vision and they’re entrepreneurial. They value this community and want to give back. They’ve seen these challenges and they’re overcoming them one by one. And they believe that the best is yet to come.
While Dansville does not sit on a lake, canal, or natural wonder, it is a centrally located community, equidistant between Rochester and Corning, two miles from Stony Brook State Park, about 15 miles from the north entrance of Letchworth State Park, 11 miles from Conesus Lake, and within easy distance of numerous state landmarks and Swain Ski Resort. It makes the community an inviting year-round home.
