69° and Fog
Image
The Niagara Scenic Parkway will be reborn as some sort of public facility. What that looks like was the topic of a packed meeting Tuesday at the DeVeaux Woods Castellani Building.
State Parks, the New York Power Authority and Empire State Development the meeting. No representative of the city council attended but Kevin Forma, director of planning was there. So were County Legislator Chairman Rebecca Wydysh and 5th District Legislator Christopher Robbins as well as Lewiston Mayor Anne Welch.
The meeting was preceded by an informational session where renderings of proposed alternatives were displayed with stickies for public comment.
Whatever alternative is chosen will be completed concurrently with rehabilitation of the bridges over the dam at the Robert Moses Power Plant, a project that’s expected to be included in the $1 billion investment in upgrades at the plant. The bridges may cost about $100 million.
Community Affairs Director Lou Paonessa of NYPA said bidding on the bridges should happen in the 3rd quarter of this year with construction beginning in 2027.
Paul Tronolone, vice president of planning for Empire State Development, said that with removal of the first two sections of Parkway, in front of the State Park as well as between Main Street and Findlay Drive, the State Department of Transportation saw negligible impact on traffic. Those projects were Phases 1 and 2. The current is Phase 3.
The proposals discussed are displayed at www.NiagaraParkwayremoval.com. At least on commenter during the question and answer session wondered allowed if the name of the Website was the demonstration of a foregone conclusion.
The 3 options discussed were 1) Reuses the existing parkway 2) create a meandering park road with an adjacent path 3) Full removal.
One challenge faced with the project from Findlay north is the lack of a traditional city street paralleling the river and multimodal path the way Whirlpool Street does.
Lewiston residents were vociferous in expressing concern about the impact parkway removal could have on festival and ArtPark traffic. Anthony Dimino of Tops, the village’s largest employer, said it took him 7 minutes to drive to the meeting from his store and he had little appetite for a longer drive.
Welch suggested calmer heads should prevail. She pointed out no one complains about the two-lane River Road that connects Lewiston and Youngstown. Maintaining a similar connection between DeVeaux and Lewiston would suffice.
A preferred design should be completed in 12 to 15 months.
Restaurant owner, real estate broker and investor Shawn Weber, who has been outspoken on social media about the lack of progress in Niagara Falls confronted State Parks Western District Director Mark Mistretta about the money the State has spent in recent years.
Weber asked directly if there had been any consideration given to return on investment or impact on the city of Niagara Falls, citing the new visitors center as an example of the State focusing on its campus while doing little for the surrounding community.
Mistretta offered no substantial rebuttal.
There will be additional public meetings. Comments are open as well at the Parkway Removal website.
Other notes:
- The new path from Lewiston Hill into Artpark will be open this summer.
- The delay in delivery of doors appears to be in sight and the Whirlpool State Park bathrooms should be reopen by June.
- Work on sealing and stabilizing the Schoellkopf School at DeVeaux Woods is progressing and will be followed by a request for proposals. In a perfect world, some sort of new boutique hotel will open in the park sometime around 2030 or so.
- The Fort Gray Overlook is accessible from the bikepath and offers a spectacular view of the river but it is hard to get to by car.
