The so-called “Two-Project Solution” for the City of Niagara Falls could take a significant step forward on Wednesday.
Mayor Robert Restaino has asked members of the city council to approve a settlement with the firm Niagara Falls Redevelopment and one of its affiliated companies, Blue Apple Properties, LLC.
The deal, if approved, would resolve various legal disputes between the city and NFR, including those tied to Restaino’s bid to forcibly acquire 10 acres of the company’s land off John B. Daly Boulevard for the development of the proposed $210 million arena and events campus known as Centennial Park.
A copy of the proposed settlement included in the tentative agenda packet for Wednesday’s city council meeting 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 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.
NFR submitted hundreds of documents to the city as part of its bid to gain approvals for the Niagara Digital Campus, requesting changes to the South End zoning map to permit “industrial uses” in the proposed project area, which is currently zoned for residential, commercial and other non-industrial uses.
Under the proposed settlement, the city would also 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. Restaino has said in recent weeks that he believed the talks would lead to both parties reaching a court-approved settlement to accommodate what some have described as the “Two-Project Solution” for the city’s ailing economy — Centennial Park and the Niagara Digital Campus.
The proposed settlement includes a “non-disparagement clause,” under which representatives from the city and NFR would, “in the spirit of resolving past differences and moving forward collaboratively,” be expected to “mutually commit to refraining from knowingly making untrue, negative, disparaging or derogatory statements about one another in any public or professional forum.”
The council is scheduled to consider approval of the settlement with NFR during Wednesday’s meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. at Niagara Falls City Hall, 745 Main St.
Restaino and NFR’s spokesperson James Haggerty did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This is a developing story and the Niagara Gazette will provide additional details, both online and in Tuesday’s print edition, as more information is made available.