By Mark Scheer, Niagara Gazette, link to original article
A group of advocates for the removal of the Robert Moses Parkway are looking for another alternative to initial plans for the development of a scenic pedestrian trail along the Niagara River Gorge.
During a public hearing on the town’s proposed $2 million scenic pathway, parkway removal advocates suggested project consultants add another design option that would take into account their ideal scenario — a stretch along the Gorge between Niagara Falls and Lewiston where the parkway is no longer a factor. “We have an opportunity to make this not just a wonderful thing, but an exceptional thing,” said Youngstown resident and longtime parkway removal advocate Michelle Vanstrom.
Before the public comment period, project consultants unveiled two potential routes for the scenic trail — a “West” path running along the existing southbound lanes of the parkway from Devil’s Hole to Center Street and an “East” path that would incorporate Route 104 from Devil’s Hole to the power project and roughly follow an old railway right of way on the eastern side of the parkway to the town.
Dan Sundell, an associate with Peter J. Smith & Co., Inc., presented potential benefits and obstacles to both proposals, noting that the western alternative represented a better view of the Gorge while the eastern trail would be more of a secluded nature walk. Sundell said neither route has a specific cost attached to it yet, but he believes either one can be done within the project’s current budget. He stressed that neither proposal is a finished piece of work and the entire project is still in the early stages of development.
Vanstrom lobbied the project consultants for a third alternative that would take into account the construction of a path absent the parkway. “I’d like to see you take that out of it,” she said. “Look at it to see what positive benefits that would be.”
Ransomville resident Bob Baxter, who serves as conservation chair for the leading parkway removal advocacy group, the Niagara Heritage Partnership, said he feared the trail project would one day cross paths with the parkway debate years ago when U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter first secured $1.8 million in federal funds for the project. Baxter said the alternatives presented Monday only served to reinforce his concerns. “I support and underline her request for a third alternative,” Baxter said, referring to Vanstrom’s comments.
Lewiston resident Robert Borgatti likened both alternatives for the path to “putting lipstick on a pig,” saying neither proposal creates the type of attractive, world-class trail the community and the Gorge itself deserves. Borgatti requested a plan more befitting of the natural environment. “It’s the nature of the Gorge, the scenery of the Gorge, that’s the important thing,” he said.
Margaret Wooster, a Buffalo resident representing a group of 11 local environmental organizations known as the Niagara Relicensing Environmental Coalition, expressed concern the proposed trail could place “unnecessary constraints” on the future disposition of the parkway. “To take $2 million and spend it on a trail that has to be designed around all this infrastructure does not make sense,” Wooster said.
Supervisor Fred Newlin said he is a strong advocate for maintaining the parkway to Lewiston and expressed concern about the potential costs for its removal. Newlin added that while he disagrees with the opinions of removal advocates, he would not be adverse to taking a look at a third trail alternative as the planning process proceeds. “We’re working on the details now,” he said. “That’s why we are having this public hearing.”
Newlin added that town officials moved ahead with the project because they believe it will be some time before state officials address the issue of what to do with the parkway itself. “I don’t see it changing anytime soon, for better or for worse,” he said.
Sundell invited those who expressed concern about current trail alternatives to attend a pair of project workshops to be scheduled this fall. Those meetings, he said, will allow community members to provide their input as the consultants work to pin down a final trail design. Sundell said he’s hoping to have the finished design approved next year with construction beginning perhaps as early as next summer. “We are very early in the process here,” said James Walsh, an associate from Hatch Mott McDonald, a Buffalo engineering firm hired by the town to assist with the project.
