A proposed settlement between Niagara Falls and Niagara Falls Redevelopment would end years of litigation, clear the way for the Centennial Park and the Niagara Digital Campus proposals, and require the city to pay NFR more than $4 million for land tied to the dispute.
An 88-page stipulated settlement order will be considered by members of the Niagara Falls City Council at its Wednesday evening meeting. If it is approved, it will end four pending lawsuits between the city and NFR and allow both the proposed Centennial Park project and the proposed Niagara Digital Campus data center development to move forward.
A copy of the proposed settlement calls for NFR to “donate” 10 acres located at the intersection of 10th and Falls streets to the city to assist in Centennial Park’s development.
In exchange, the city would agree to grant NFR all of the approvals needed for the company to build a $1.5 billion data center known as the Niagara Digital Campus in the same area.
The transfer of the 10 acres would come at a cost, with the settlement calling for NFR to receive $4.029 million from the city as “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 forcibly acquire the company’s 10 acres, which is actually two parcels collectively referred to by NFR as “parcel 0.”
NFR rejected the city’s $4.029 million offer for the land as part of the eminent domain proceedings.
As the Niagara Gazette previously reported, NFR originally paid a total of $1.43 million for both properties.
The settlement agreement also calls for NFR to deed the former 10th Street Park to the city for $1. The city had claimed that the 5 acres of land 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.
Collectively, the eminent domain property and the former 10th Street Park comprise the footprint for the proposed Centennial Park Project. The property is bounded by Falls Street, Eighth Street, 10th Street and the former park.
The proposed settlement would require the city to “fulfill all obligations and duties” set forth in the NFR Digital Campus Settlement, including enacting an ordinance that amends the official zoning map of the Falls to establish a Planned Unit Development, commonly known as a PUD.
The settlement moves the proposed first stage of the data center development from the Centennial Park land to property further down Falls Street, between 14th and 15th streets.
Under the proposed settlement, the city would be required to subdivide several parcels, effect any street discontinuance upon NFR’s request, issue and maintain demolition permits for NFR-owned structures and grant any easement, right-of-way or allowance for access over any street within or adjacent to the digital campus.
NFR has insisted that the Digital Campus, once fully developed, would lead to the creation of at least 500 permanent jobs, with more than 1,500 temporary jobs available to area workers during construction. NFR has said the project would be built in partnership with Urbacon, a Toronto-based firm that specializes in data center development projects.
Restaino has, at various points in recent years, questioned the validity of NFR’s data center plan, including whether Urbacon has a formal construction agreement with the company for the Falls project.
His position changed this year amid court-sanctioned mediation involving legal teams representing both the city and NFR.
The settlement is the result of months of mediation led by New York State Supreme Court Justice Deborah Chimes. Sources with knowledge of the mediation discussions have said that lawyers for the city and NFR have been meeting on a bi-weekly basis in an effort to reach an agreement.
Mayor Robert Restaino said he could not comment on the proposed settlement order.
“Due to the litigation, the mayor cannot comment,” the city’s paid spokesperson, Philip Wells, from the private communications firm E3 Communications, said in a brief statement issued in response to questions from the newspaper.
The proposed settlement includes a non-disparagement clause that prohibits either the city or NFR from “making knowingly untrue, negative, disparaging, or derogatory statements about one another in any public or professional forum.” The ongoing litigation has been marked by sometimes bitter comments from both sides.