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The site plan for the West End Arts Campus was by the city's planning board that night. The campus will connect the neighboring Cayuga Museum of History & Art and Schweinfurth Art Center with paving, landscaping, signage and other improvements. The two institutions believe the project will advertise their presence better, make them more accessible and bolster the city's western gateway. 

The project is supported by $1.9 million — about half of its total cost — from the city's $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant announced in 2018. 

The planning board also approved the environmental review for the campus on Tuesday, and city Deputy Director of Planning & Development Stephen Selvek said the state Historic Preservation Office has determined the project will have no adverse impact on the Dr. Sylvester Willard (Willard-Case) Mansion where the museum is located. The mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Other improvements that will come with the campus include a 1,046-square-foot addition to the Schweinfurth and outdoor plaza spaces. Modifications to the site plan added during the board's review process include making sidewalks on Genesee and Washington streets contiguous through the campus driveways, replacing a missing curb on Washington and stormwater and sanitary improvements.

Kirsten Gosch, the museum's executive director, told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV the project's tentative start date is spring 2024. The campus was delayed by COVID-19 and more environmental testing than anticipated.

The museum and the Schweinfurth attract an annual total of about 23,000 visitors. Gosch's predecessor, Eileen McHugh, told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV in 2018 the campus could raise that number "significantly." 

"Between these two places, we have history, art, theater, science — right here in one location," she said. "We want to make it easier for other people to know that all of that's here in one spot."