In a chamber filled with a raucous and angry crowd of largely Niagara Falls residents, City Council members voted Wednesday night to approve a proposed settlement between the city and Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR) that will end years of litigation and clear the way for the development of both the proposed Centennial Park and the Niagara Digital Campus projects.
City lawmakers sat impassively for more than an hour as over two dozen speakers stepped up to the podium in the council chambers, most to vehemently oppose the settlement negotiated under the mediation of a New York State Supreme Court justice.
Amid NFR settlement concerns, Falls residents ask, ‘Where’s the mayor?’
Those who spoke in favor of the agreement found themselves the targets of catcalls and were shouted down.
Representatives of local construction unions argued that allowing the park and data center projects to move forward would bring jobs for their members. John Scheer, a representative of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), said work on another data center project in the region had led to work for 1,100 of the union’s members.
When hecklers in the crowd shouted at him that they were “temporary jobs”, Scheer replied, “Temp jobs are how we work. That’s how we make a living.”
Many speakers complained that the settlement agreement was released to the public without enough time to understand it and ask questions.
“Give the public a fair amount of time to process this,” Cherish Beals said. “Give us the time to ask questions.”
Ben Ekrass, who said he works as a data analyst, warned that a data center development would employ “people like me” and could be done by “highly skilled remote workers who never set foot in Niagara Falls.” He said NFR’s interest in a data center in the Falls is driven by access to “cheap water, cheap electricity and cheap land.”
“I love my job,” Ekrass said. “But it is not the kind of job to want to sell out your water and your people for.”
The 88-page stipulated settlement order will end four pending lawsuits between the city and NFR. A copy of the proposed settlement calls for NFR to “donate” 10 acres of land located at the intersection of 10th and Falls streets for the proposed Centennial Park’s development.
It would also deed to the city the former 10th Street Park for $1. The city had claimed that the 5 acres of parkland were never legally transferred to NFR’s ownership as part of a deal in 2003-2004 between the South End land owner and former Falls mayors Irene Elia and Vince Anello.
In exchange, the city would agree 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 requires the Falls to pay NFR $4.029 million as a “reimbursement of costs and expenses incurred by NFR in connection with the donated property.” City officials agreed last July to offer NFR the same amount as part of eminent domain proceedings initiated by Restaino in an attempt to acquire the land for Centennial Park.
NFR rejected the city’s $4.029 million offer for the land. The Gazette has previously reported that NFR originally paid $1.43 million for the eminent domain land.
Council Member Vincent Cauley (R) said the city and NFR’s legal battles were “a loss” for residents.
“I desire to have a working relationship with every business in the city,” Cauley said. “The moment we said we wanted (to use) eminent domain, we lost.”
As Cauley attempted to explain why he supported the lawsuit settlement, the crowd in the council chambers jeered him and shouted profanities. One man yelled, “You broke my heart.”
“I’ve never been in either the data center or the Centennial Park camps,” the council member said. “I’d like to see a 30- to 40-acre indoor water park.”
As Cauley attempted to reassure the crowd that approval of the zoning changes did not mean approving a data center, those in attendance shouted him down.”
Council Chair Brian Archie (D) and Member James Perry (D) also voted yes on the settlement. Member David Zajac was excused from the meeting.
Member Bridgette Myless (D) was the lone no vote.
“Once we approve this, we have no control,” Myles said. “I am 100% against this.”
Archie lamented the chaos of the meeting and said he believed misinformation, fueled by social media posts, contributed to the anger in the crowd.
“Very much so, a lot of this was fueled by misinformation,” Archie said. “I definitely expected a heated conversation, but we still have safeguards in place (for data centers). My vote was to acquire our land to push a project forward and chart our future.”