A New York State Supreme Court justice has ended the debate over how and when Niagara Falls will pay a $4.029 million settlement sum to South End landowner Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR).
Justice Deborah Chimes has issued an order directing “that the city controller shall pay the settlement sum to (NFR’s attorneys) out of the city’s unassigned fund balance by no later than 5 p.m. on Aug. 19, 2026.”
The order had been requested by NFR’s attorneys after a July 31 deadline to make the payment passed without the city taking any action.
Chimes conducted a conference with attorneys for NFR and the city’s special counsel for the Centennial Park project on Monday. During that conference, NFR attorney John Horn submitted a draft of the order to Chimes, who signed it on Tuesday.
The court order ends a month-long stalemate among members of the Falls City Council over paying the settlement, which resolved years of litigation between the Falls and NFR and will clear the way for the development of both the proposed Centennial Park project and the potential Niagara Digital Campus.
Council Member James Perry (D), who supports the Centennial Park project, said he was pleased to see the settlement terms move forward.
“I’m happy to hear that it’s been done,” he said.
Member Vincent Cauley (R), who opposed the city’s use of eminent domain to acquire property from NFR, took issue with Chime’s order.
“That court order is fine, but I still request that the money come out of casino funds,” Cauley said.
Asked how that could be accomplished, Cauley said, “Well, she’s the judicial branch and I’m the legislative branch and we control the budget.”
The council, at a June 3 meeting, voted 3-1, with Member Bridgette Myles (D) opposed, to approve the settlement that was reached as a result of court-ordered mediation by Chimes. Council Chair Brian Archie (D), along with Perry and Cauley, supported the settlement while Member David Zajac (R) was excused from the meeting.
The stipulated settlement order ended four pending lawsuits between the city and NFR. It also called for NFR to “donate” 10 acres of land located at the intersection of 10th and Falls streets for the proposed Centennial Park development and to deed to the city the former 10th Street Park for $1.
The city is required to grant NFR all of the approvals needed to establish a Planned Unit Development (PUD), a zoning code change that would allow the company to build a proposed $1.5 billion data center known as the Niagara Digital Campus adjacent to Centennial Park.
In addition to allowing the two proposed developments to go forward, the settlement also required the Falls to pay NFR $4.029 million as a “reimbursement of costs and expenses incurred by NFR in connection with the donated property.” All of the terms of the agreement have been conditioned on the city, first, paying the full settlement sum
Four attempts by council members to approve that payment all ended in failure.
At a July 8 council meeting, the approval of the payment was postponed in a dispute among members over whether the settlement funds should come from the city’s general fund balance or its Tribal Revenue accounts. At a special meeting held July 18, the council deadlocked on paying the settlement in a further argument over the source of the settlement funding.
At its last meeting before its August recess, council members voted not once, but twice to reject resolutions that would have authorized the payment of the settlement. The dueling resolutions would have directed the city controller to make the payment to NFR by drawing funds from the city’s Tribal Revenue account.
Both resolutions failed when Perry insisted that they include language critical of the use of tribal funds.
While Horn had demanded that the city make the settlement payment, or face a new legal action, Archie described the court order as “coming out of left field.”
“While we had a stipulated order, it should have been the council’s choice where the funds came from,” the council chair said. “I was working to get a resolution to this and was trying to schedule a special meeting. I wish counsel had reached out to me and given me a heads up that this was coming.”
Archie said the order will now keep the settlement agreement on track.
“It’ll be resolved,” he said, “without council members being punished financially or by their character being called into question.”
The council chair said the next step for the Centennial Park project is to determine whether to create a Local Development Corporation (LDC) to oversee it. He said the council will insist that it have a majority say over the LDC.