This is your chance to have your say in how Buffalo's waterfront is developed.
The Erie County Harbor Development Corporation is hosting a "Community Open House" Wednesday, August 6 at WNED Studios at 140 Lower Terrace in Buffalo.
There will be two full presentations and feedback sessions. The first will go 5:30pm to 7 p.m and the second from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Each program will begin with a 45-minute PowerPoint presentation, which will include a summary and analysis of the input from the past three forums and how the feedback was incorporated to frame the three concepts and a presentation of the three proposals.
PRESS RELEASE:
ECHDC Holding Presentation of Alternative Concepts for Buffalo’s Outer Harbor
Open house will provide opportunity for public to score three different blueprints for the project
BUFFALO, NY July 29, 2014 – Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. Chairman Robert Gioia today announced that the agency plans to hold a community open house to seek public scoring of three possible blueprints for the Buffalo Outer Harbor. The goal is to turn the long-neglected industrial property into a world-class mixed-use waterfront development that will combine open spaces and public waterfront access with well-needed economic activity and private investment. Working with Empire State Development and Perkins+Will’s San Francisco and New York based planning and architecture team, ECHDC officials want Western New Yorkers to review the three plans that were designed using input from the nearly 600 people who participated in three interactive meetings last month. (see pictures here) “Design consultant Perkins+Will has taken all of the terrific ideas that were generated by the very positive public meetings and consolidated them into three possible approaches for outer harbor development.” Gioia said. “The public will now have an opportunity to thoroughly review the plans and score them in categories such as land uses, views, open space, and access & mobility. This process will take us one step closer to a final design for this most important piece of waterfront property.”
The open houses will take place:
- Wednesday August 6, 2014
- WNED Studios, 140 Lower Terrace, Buffalo, NY
- Two full presentation and feedback sessions:
- 5:30-7:00 pm
- 7:00-8:30 pm
Part 1 of each presentation will consist of a 45 minute PowerPoint presentation
- Summary and analysis of feedback from first three open houses
- Synthesis of feedback into ‘frameworks’ approach to developing concept alternatives
- Presentation of three alternative concepts using the 8 ‘framework’ overlays
- Explanation of PART 2 of the evening and scoring process
Part 2 of each presentation will take an additional 45 minutes and will include:
- 9 three-sided stations. One station will be a reminder of the site, context and guiding principles (repeated from open houses 1 through 3). The other 8 stations will all feature different aspects of the three alternatives, one alternative on each side of a three sided station.
- Participants will be given a scorecard and will be asked to rate each of the three alternatives in each of the eight categories. (Access & Mobility: Ease of Movement, Open Space: Well-Loved Public Places, Ecology & Resiliency: Living Infrastructure, Health & Recreation: Healthy Living, Land Use: Diversity of Uses, Waterfront Culture: A Public Experience, Human Comfort: Responding to Climate, and Views: Create & Enhance)
- Each station will be manned by at least one staff and/or team member to give guidance if needed and to answer questions.
- Attendees will be encouraged to complete the score cards and place them in a box as they leave, but will also be offered the option to return them later, prior to the deadline given for completion.
Approximately 190 acres of the transferred Outer Harbor lands, a small boat marina and a beach, is now a new state park and the first state park in the city of Buffalo under the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP). The remaining, adjacent land was primarily yet unplanned, but will ultimately feature mixed-use waterfront development under guiding principles established by the Buffalo Waterfront Development Advisory Committee, a committee including five members appointed by Governor Cuomo and four members appointed by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown.
ECHDC announced in April that the state was moving ahead on plans to redevelop and dramatically transform the soon-to-be-acquired state land holdings on the Outer Harbor into a vibrant and accessible waterfront for residents and tourists alike. The selection of Perkins+Will as master consultant began the public planning process that will lead to a blueprint later this fall.
For more information, please go to www.eriecanalharbor.com/outer-harbor.
About Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp.
The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation (ECHDC) is governed by a nine-member board consisting of seven voting directors and two non-voting, ex-officio directors. The seven voting directors are recommended by the New York State Governor and are appointed by the New York State Urban Development Corporation d/b/a Empire State Development as sole shareholder of ECHDC. The two nonvoting, ex-officio director positions are held by the Erie County Executive and the City of Buffalo Mayor.
As a subsidiary of Empire State Development, the state’s chief economic development agency, the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation supports and promotes the creation of infrastructure and public activities at Canalside, the Ohio Street corridor and the Outer Harbor that is attracting critical mass, private investment and enhance the enjoyment of the waterfront for residents and tourists in Western New York. Its vision is to revitalize Western New York’s waterfront and restore economic growth to Buffalo based on the region’s legacy of pride, urban significance and natural beauty. For more information on ECHDC, visit www.eriecanalharbor.com.