Published: January 15, 2008 09:04 pm      

GREENWAY: Commission gives greenway projects go-ahead

Meeting marks first in 50 years of project appraisals

Improvements to state parks in Niagara Falls and Youngstown. A monument honoring Lewiston’s role in the Underground Railroad. The final phase of construction at Veterans Memorial Park in the Town of Niagara.

Eleven projects in total were approved unanimously by the Niagara River Greenway Commission on Tuesday. The meeting, at Beaver Island State Park on Grand Island, was the first of many over the next 50 years in which the commission’s members will determine a project’s consistency with the Niagara River Greenway Plan.

Four committees, which control $9 million annually, will now decide whether the projects are worthy of funding. The money comes from the relicensing settlements with the New York State Power Authority.

The commission’s recommendations have no legal bearing on whether projects are ultimately funded, but its officers hope that the committees use them as guidelines in developing the greenway — a system of trails, parks and environmental resources along the Niagara River from Buffalo to Youngstown.

“It went well, and we got some great responses,” said Rob Belue, the commission’s executive director, referring to the number of projects voted upon. “We didn’t know if we’d get one or 101.”

The projects are as follows in the order they were voted on:

• Freedom Crossing Monument: The project, submitted by the Historical Association of Lewiston, will be a roughly 9-foot high statue at the Village of Lewiston’s waterfront park at the end of Center Street. It will depict a scene including prominent Underground Railroad member Josiah Tryon and Laura Eastman, heroine of the book “Freedom Crossing.” The project application asks for $180,000 in greenway funds to go along with $50,000 in private funds. It will now be considered by the Host Communities Standing Committee.

• Preservation of Fort Niagara: The project, submitted by the Old Fort Niagara Association, details improvements needed to numerous structures at the complex, most of which were built in the 1700s and haven’t been restored since the early 20th century. The application cites project costs of about $1.22 million and says it hopes about $600,000 can come from the Host Communities Standing Committee.

• Fisherman’s Park in Grand Island: The project, submitted by the Town of Grand Island, requests $499,667 from the Erie County Greenway Fund Standing Committee to rehabilitate and enhance Fisherman’s Park, located on the Niagara River near the island’s south bridge. The project would include cleaning the site and making it more pedestrian-friendly with a walkway, bike rack, parking area and picnic shelter.

• Shoreline Trail signs in Erie County: The project, submitted by Erie County, aims to create a consistent and simple sign system on the Riverwalk, a trail along the Niagara River, from Buffalo to the City of Tonawanda. The total estimated project cost is $180,000 and the project will be reviewed by the Erie County committee.

• New York State Parks projects: Five projects were submitted, including a landscape restoration plan for Goat Island, environmental restoration to Luna Island, Stedman’s Bluff and the Three Sisters Islands, rebuilding the Whirlpool Overlook retaining walls and its pavement and stairs and restoring the trails on the Niagara Gorge from Whirlpool State Park to Devil’s Hole State Park. They will be submitted to the State Parks Standing Committee.

• Town of Niagara Veterans Memorial Park: The project, submitted by the Town of Niagara, asks for funds for the third and final phase of Veterans Memorial Park, which will include the third and final phase of the community center, an amphitheater and both tennis and bocce courts. The total project cost will be $6 million and it will be subject to approval by the Host Communities standing committee.

n Scajaquada Pathway: The project, submitted by the Buffalo Olmstead Parks Conservancy, will restore portions of the Scajaquada Bike Trail in Buffalo.