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A crowd of about 50 interested citizens and stakeholders gathered Wednesday at the Niagara Falls Train Station to here a presentation on the Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan.
The $600,000 grant-funded process began with an RFP under former Director of Planning Tom DeSantis who was there last night.
The open house and presentation was designed to gather information for what the public would like to see done with not only the Niagara River corridor by areas along Gill and Cayuga Creek.
A survey on the plan is underway and can be accessed at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/niagarafallslwrp.
Sam Gordon of Syracuse-based Environmental Design and Research led the discussion. A PowerPoint slide showed 7 past plans from 2006 to present, several of which are in different stages of progress.
The area being planned for includes all of Buffalo Avenue as well as Main Street. Implementation will depend on long-term funding. The $600,000 grant of state taxpayer dollars is for planning only.
After the plan is put in place and adopted, property owners within the district wishing to make improvements will be subject to a “consistency review” to be certain modifications remain within the accepted scope.
The project area includes the USA Niagara Development District as well as the proposed Centennial Park campus which is in conflict with the proposed Urbacon Data Center.
Two more meetings are planned on the project, one for Spring of 2024 and one for Spring of 2025.
Several projects in the concerned area are already happening.
- Empire State Development has a Niagara Falls Small Business Property Improvement Program already in place and funded with $5 million. The program will provide grants of up 50% of total project costs up to $100,000 for small businesses. Learn more at https://niagarafallsusa.org/niagara-falls-small-business-property-improvement-program/ Program guidelines are available in PDF form at the end of this article.
- Redevelopment of the parcel between 1st and 2nd streets which will expand the Aquarium campus and include a public gathering space and historical interpretation of the hydraulic canal. A stone fence on 2nd Street is the only current physical reminder of where the canal once flowed.
- Removal of the remainder of Niagara Scenic Parkway between Findlay Drive and Lewiston. The Greenway Commission is currently in the scoping process for that massive project which is like to be completed between 2027 and 2030 in conjunction with the Power Authority replacing the bridges in front of its plant that carry a bike path, the parkway and Lewiston Road. An early estimate on the bridge replacement alone is about $100 million.
