A closely divided Niagara Falls City Council has approved a request from Mayor Robert Restaino to begin the process of purchasing roughly 5 acres of prime South End tourist district land, currently awarded to the city through eminent domain, for the proposed Centennial Park project.
After tabling and taking no action on the same request in May, city lawmakers narrowly defeated another attempt to postpone acting on an authorization to make a $4.029 million offer to Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR), and one of its affiliates, to purchase the proposed park and event center property.
The proposed offer represents the value of the land, determined by an independent real estate appraiser hired by the city.
Council Member David Zajac (R), had previously objected to authorizing the offer without having a chance to first review the appraisal of the property, view a feasibility study of the proposed project and gain a commitment from state officials to support the projected $200 million park plan. That feasibility study has since been presented to council members and released to the public.
But Zajac noted that while state leaders, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, have signaled support they’ve stopped short of guaranteeing financing for the project.
“I had hoped there would be a financial commitment from the state by the time of our next meeting,” Zajac said in pushing to further delay the property bid.
But Council Members Brian Archie (D), Traci Bax (R) and Chair James Perry (D) voted to push the mayor’s request forward. Member Donta Myles also voted to postpone action.
“I am for the concept of an event center,” Zajac said. “Tourism and small businesses will push us forward. And I await a funding commitment from the state.”
Bax characterized the bid authorization as “voting for the next step in the process. We have to take ownership of our destiny.”
Myles, a consistent critic of Centennial Park called the property bid “not responsible.”
“Where are we getting the $4 million?” Myles asked.
Acting Falls Corporation Counsel Thomas DeBoy has previously characterized the proposed property bid as just the first step in completing the eminent domain acquisition of the NFR property.
“This resolution, to me, is allowing the mayor to negotiate,” Archie said. “There’s no check going out the door and we’ve had a developer sitting on that land for 35 years.”
The offer is for only slightly more than half of the land the city originally sought in its eminent domain action against NFR, DeBoy has previously said. In January, the city began legal proceedings against NFR claiming that 5 acres of the contested South End property, already subject to the eminent domain action, were never legally transferred to NFR’s ownership.
The city is claiming that property formerly known as the 10th Street Park, at the intersection of 10th and Falls streets, was never properly deeded to NFR as part of a deal in 2003-2004 between the South End land owner and former Falls mayors Irene Elia and Vince Anello. Mayor Robert Restaino has said the city’s special counsel for the Centennial Park project has determined that NFR never completed the process of taking control of the land by gaining approval of the property transfer from the New York State Legislature.
The city and NFR are contesting that claim in New York State Supreme Court.