Buffalo News, April 27, 2009, Monday

Buffalo News

April 27, 2009, Monday

Buffalo News

Policy paper calls for green design at Erie Canal Harbor

By Mark Sommer

A community-based think tank has issued a policy paper on the Erie Canal Harbor development, calling for an appropriate site design, green design standards, involvement of locally owned retail businesses, living- wage jobs and residential access to the water.

The Partnership for the Public Good, which helps member organizations with research, advocacy and communication, also called for the implementation of a Community Benefit Agreement that would bind the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. and community groups to a contract spelling out standards and measurable outcomes for the emerging project in a transparent process.

“Community Benefit Agreements are part of a larger trend toward much more accountable development and government transparency,” Lou Jean Fleron of Cornell ILR said at a recent forum at the school to announce the report.

“They also address the critical issue of inequality and poverty that exist in the cities that have developed and used them. As we think about the economic crisis we are all in now, it’s ever clearer all the time that economic development that benefits only the wealthy is not a sustainable model.”

The Canal Corp. is carrying out a required State Environmental Quality Review expected to extend to the end of the year, which includes a public scoping meeting in June or July.

Canal Corp. board member David Colligan, who attended the forum, said the board was “very interested in learning about what people think are the best uses for the waterfront. There is going to be a lot of public input.”

The report expresses dissatisfaction with the slow pace of waterfront development, suggesting clear objectives and a time line could help change that.

“The harbor redevelopment has been discussed for more than 10 years, and over this period the public has been given numerous versions of what objectives will be attained and through what means,” the report states.

The PPG recommends developing a revitalized waterfront in a way that is compatible to “creating an authentic, livable, mixed-use, neighborhood” rather than focusing solely on creating a tourist destination.

Amy Kendron of Buffalo First bolstered PPG’s call at the forum for local business participation, citing statistics on how independent retail operations return far more money to a local economy than out-of-town chains.

She also raised a concern that Benderson Development, the designated developer, has built a successful track record of developing strip malls with large chain stores that was not in tune with what many want to see at Erie Canal Harbor.

“Think about where you took your last visitor when they came to Buffalo. Maybe you took them out for wings, maybe to the natural attraction festivals, major retail strips, but certainly not the strip malls. And we don’t want the cornerstone of our city to necessarily look like that,” Kedron said.

msommer@buffnews.com