A downgraded Niagara Scenic Parkway, with connections to Hyde Park Boulevard and access to the Niagara River.
A reimagined Hyde Park Boulevard, with bike lanes and new streetscaping that stretches into the North End. And a reclaimed former police headquarters that could be a community center, senior center or even a local grocery store.
At the second of a series of workshops on the city’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP), Tuesday evening, all of those ideas were open for discussion as “preferred concepts” for the effort to reconnect residents to their local waterways. About 35 to 40 folks gathered at the John Duke Senior Center to voice their opinions on the plans.
Falls Planning Director Kevin Forma told the residents, and a few local elected officials, that LWRP is intended to “remove barriers to access to the (Falls’) waterfront. It’s about improving connectivity to the waterfront.”
The most impactful set of proposals were concepts for the re-use of the former Niagara Falls Police headquarters in the 500 block of Hyde Park Boulevard. One possible plan calls for turning the site into a park with senior citizen housing.
The project calls for a three-story, 84,000-square-foot facility with room for 40 parking spaces. The facility would be surrounded by parkland and connect to a proposed bike path that would lead to the riverfront.
The second concept for the former public safety building creates a park, that connects to Gill Creek Park and would contain a 25,000-square-foot community center with 50 parking spaces.
The final concept for the space was an 8,500-square-foot local grocery store, with 40 parking spaces. Some residents asked if the grocery store and senior housing concepts could be combined to assist seniors with independent living.
What was described as a Hyde Park-Gill Creek Corridor called for a reconfiguration of the street from four to two lanes with the addition of streetscaping and dedicated bike paths.
The LWRP consultants are also suggesting converting the Niagara Scenic Parkway from a high-speed four-lane highway into a two-lane local roadway with additional access points that would allow people to reach the river from the neighborhoods north of Buffalo Avenue.
The releases of the Hyde Park-Gill Creek concepts follow a Monday workshop where planners proposed the removal of the LaSalle Expressway and its replacement with an “at-grade main street” surrounded by primarily residential development, some small-scale retail and new green space. That proposal stemmed from a number of developmental concepts first presented to the public during a meeting in July.
The LaSalle re-design showed a grade-level two-lane roadway stretching from 65th Street to Williams Road. It featured trees lining the street with lots to be used for “infill housing”, interspersed with parks and other green spaces.
A bike path runs parallel to the street and a median is featured for the length of the road.
The city is partnering with the New York State Department of State, and other state departments and agencies, to create the revitalization plan. A written plan, with specific project proposals, is expected to be released by the end of 2025 or early 2026.
The program is funded by New York State.