Great Valley planning July 28 open house for new park

By KELLEN M. QUIGLEY

Olean Times Herald

GREAT VALLEY — The Great Valley Town Board invites the public to its newly acquired property at the top of Mutton Hollow Road for an open house at 6 p.m. July 28.

Town Supervisor Dan Brown said they want local residents to visit the property, which used to be the old Great Valley Youth Camp, and offer suggestions on what the town can do with it.

“We’ve talked about a snowmobile site for folks to join onto the trails,” he said. “Hiking, biking, whatever it might be, I want people to give us ideas. That’s what this night is for.”

The property is going to be renamed the Baugh Family Park, Brown said. Retired businessman Travis Baugh, who lives about a mile away off Mutton Hollow Road, was concerned when New York state announced plans to sell the surplus property after the youth camp closed in 2010.

Not knowing what the property would be used for, Baugh decided

to purchase it himself. He completed the cleanup at the camp facilities over the past few years and turned the 43-acre property over to the town in late 2022 to use it as a recreation and multi-purpose area.

“Travis wants to do a memorial there,” Brown said. “Simply a stone and a bronze plaque of what that facility was, its dates of operation and a little history on it.”

Brown said they’ll order a tent for shade from the heat or in case of rain. He said he’s hoping to have a food vendor there for food and live music. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own chairs.

“It’s a diamond in the rough,” he added.

A storage building, a pavilion and a baseball backstop are the only structures standing at the site.

There’s also a water tower, power and a new septic system.

Nearby are the 10,000-acre McCarty Hill State Forest, the Finger Lakes Trail, Rock City, a snowmobile trail, a mountain bike trail and cross-country ski trails.

Meanwhile, work at the town hall’s addition for a new food pantry space and extra office and storage space is on track for its fall opening.

Brown said the flooring had been poured and set last month and the walls and trusses for the roof are up. He said National Grid came in to cut the old power and turn on the new power, and the water and sewer system is in progress.

Plans to have automated external defibrillators (AEDs) installed at both the town hall’s park and the Kill Buck park were temporarily halted due to concerns about the machines being vandalized and not working during an emergency.

Brown said he talked with Eric Butler, Undersheriff of Cattaraugus County, and came up with a possible solution — give the 911 operators a code to lockboxes the AEDs will be housed in since someone should call 911 to begin with if they believe someone is having a heart attack.

“Yeah, it’s going to take a little bit more time, but it’s a fool-proof way to not have them get vandalized,” Brown said. “(Butler) thought it was a great idea and something they may utilize throughout the county.”

A public hearing was also set for the town board’s Aug. 14 meeting at 7 p.m. to discuss a new ordinance regulating noise pollution in the town, specifically regarding offroad vehicles.

(Contact editor/reporter Kellen Quigley at kquigley@oleantimesherald. com.)