State urged to fund second Niagara Scenic Parkway roundabout

Jan. 13--Regional chambers of commerce are urging the state to fund a proposal to construct a second roundabout on the Niagara Scenic Parkway.

The Buffalo Niagara Partnership endorsed the project as well as to build a breakwater at Olcott Harbor in its 2019 advocacy agenda, arguing both the breakwater and a roundabout at Hyde Park Boulevard and the parkway would spur economic development in their respective communities.

As state crews begin preliminary work on the first phase of the removal of the Niagara Scenic Parkway north of Findlay Drive, city officials hope to secure funding commitments for a roundabout that would connect the remaining section of the parkway to Hyde Park Boulevard via a roundabout.

Mayor Paul Dyster said the benefits of such a roundabout are threefold: alleviating traffic on the parkway, particularly during the summer tourist season; providing greater pedestrian and bicycle access to the waterfront; and better connecting the scenic parkway to the city street-grid.

"There's a lot of different things we're trying to accomplish with the project," Dyster said.

Hyde Park Boulevard currently does not connect to the parkway, only to the adjacent Lewiston Road. Dyster said a direct connection between the parkway's northern section and the boulevard could be a boon to nearby businesses.

"It's not really a parkway. It's a limited-access expressway, which means it's not very useful for the business districts outside the downtown," Dyster said.

Both the Buffalo Niagara Partnership and Niagara USA Chamber agreed.

"Routing that traffic through -- rather than around -- Niagara Falls certainly makes a stronger case for people wanting to invest in the city," Loomis said.

Dyster said they hope to include the roundabout in the Transportation Improvement Program. If included, Dyster said, the project would be eligible for federal funds and construction would begin within five years.

The Greater Buffalo-Niagara Regional Transportation Council, consisting of state agencies and local stakeholders, will decide whether to include the project on the TIP list.

The chambers also endorsed state funding for several Erie County projects, including proposals to open all of Main Street in downtown Buffalo to cars, extend the Buffalo Metro Rail and construct an agricultural industrial park in Angola.

Elsewhere in its 2019 state advocacy agenda, the partnership renews familiar positions of area chambers of commerce. The partnership calls for tax relief -- including making the property tax cap permanent -- and opposes any legislation that would impose additional mandates on employers, such as expanding paid family leave, on-call scheduling or expanding insurance mandates.

Naturally, the partnership opposes the New York Health Act, arguing its exorbitant costs would be too much for businesses and taxpayers to bear.

A 2018 study by the Rand Corporation, a nonprofit think tank, found the single-payer health care system would cost $139 billion in 2022 and require a 156 percent tax increase. However, it also found that if properly administered, the system would slightly reduce statewide health care spending.

Gov. Cuomo cited those estimated costs in an August debate against his then-primary opponent, Cynthia Nixon, and argued single-payer would be far too expensive for the state to implement on its own.

"Employers within the region can only withstand so many tax increases, so much tax burden," Schuler said.

"They're all things that chip away at the economy and the business environment in New York. I think it's more than just the weather that people are leaving," added Schuler, referencing Cuomo's September 2018 claim that the weather was to blame for residents continuing to move out of state.

Olcott Harbor breakwater

Niagara USA Chamber Executive Director Kory Schuler agreed with partnership, saying an added breakwater in Olcott Harbor could mitigate the flooding and erosion that Olcott experienced in spring and summer 2017, when Lake Ontario reached record-high water levels.

"I think it's a great idea to help the shoreline, help the residents and businesses along that area," Schuler said.

The Olcott Harbor breakwater was first proposed in the 1960s as part of a much more expansive plan to turn Olcott into a larger harbor, according to Newfane Supervisor Tim Horanburg. Those plans never materialized, after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deemed the project didn't meet its feasibility criteria.

Calls for a breakwater shielding Olcott were renewed in 2017, after high waters on Lake Ontario caused flooding and erosion in the hamlet, and rendered many docks unusable for most of the peak summer boating season.

Horanburg said wave action and high water within -- rather than outside -- the harbor caused the most damage to Olcott's shoreline that year.

"I think (a breakwater) would have solved 90 percent of the problems that we had," Horanburg said.

Even with relatively normal water levels, Horanburg said, the wave actions interfere with boating at the harbor.

"The water is making it almost impossible to have any docks out because the water is too rough," Horanburg said.

In April, Newfane was awarded $500,000 in state Lake Ontario relief funding to conduct an engineering and feasibility study on the break-water. The town hired WSP, an international engineering firm with a location in Buffalo, at $448,000.

The initial plans call for a 600-foot breakwater that would shield both the harbor and two, 900-foot-long federal piers, which were submerged under the high water in 2017. The breakwater's length, cost, position and materials will be determined by the study, which is expected to be completed by year's end, Horanburg said.

Local officials hope to secure state funding this year, so that once the study is complete, construction can get underway.

Grant Loomis, vice president of government affairs for the partnership, said mitigating the wave action and flooding in the harbor could be a boon to its boating and fishing industries, which may in turn benefit other Olcott businesses.

"We want to not only maintain the level of commercial activity there but better position the community to increase that economic opportunity," Loomis said.

Horanburg said he was encouraged by the endorsements. "I think this is the best opportunity we've ever had to get a breakwater built here," he said.

The partnership's 2019 advocacy agenda also called for:

--Eliminating the Scaffolding Law, which places full liability on employers for construction site accidents if there is any employer negligence at all, without taking into account any negligence on the part of the injured employee.

--Expediting border-crossings, including expanding staffing at the Peace Bridge while its rehabilitation is underway, requiring filing of electronic manifests for trucks crossing the border and requiring prepayment of commercial border crossing fees.

--Investing more heavily in transportation infrastructure to fix deficient roads, highways and bridges.

--Expanding opportunities for workforce development and job-training.

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(c)2019 the Niagara Gazette (Niagara Falls, N.Y.)

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